Flowers [1. Auflage]
 9781780421827, 1780421826

Table of contents :
Contents......Page 5
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)......Page 48
Emma Desportes de la Fosse (1810-1869)......Page 52
Anne Vallayer-Coster (1744-1818)......Page 54
Jean-François Garneray (1755-1837)......Page 58
Corneille van Spaendonck (1756-1840)......Page 62
Augustin Thierriat (1789-1870)......Page 66
Adèle Riché (1791-1887)......Page 72
Apollinaire Sicard (1807-1881)......Page 74
Simon Saint-Jean (1808-1860)......Page 76
Jean-Marie Reignier (1815-?)......Page 82
Jacques-Joseph Baile (1819-1856)......Page 88
Théodore Chassériau (1819-1856)......Page 90
Hortense Dury-Vasselon......Page 94
Joanny Maisiat (1824-1910)......Page 96
Jean-Pierre Laÿs (1825-1887)......Page 100
François Lépagnez (1828-1870)......Page 102
André Perrachon (1828-1909)......Page 104
Edouard Manet (1832-1883)......Page 108
Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904)......Page 114
Nicolae Grigorescu (1838-1907)......Page 118
Alexis Kreyder (1839-1912)......Page 124
Paul Cézanne (1839-1906)......Page 126
Odilon Redon (1840-1916)......Page 134
Claude Monet (1840-1926)......Page 140
Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)......Page 154
Georges Jeannin (1841-1925)......Page 164
François Rivoire (1842-1919)......Page 168
Henri Rousseau (1844-1910)......Page 172
Jules Alexandre Gamba de Preydour(1846-1931)......Page 176
Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894)......Page 178
Grégoire Chapoton (1845-1915)......Page 182
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903)......Page 184
Henri Cauchois (1850-1911)......Page 198
Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)......Page 202
Louis Vivin (1861-1936)......Page 212
Séraphine Louis (1864-1942)......Page 214
Henri Matisse (1869-1954)......Page 216
André Bauchant (1873-1958)......Page 220
Henri Manguin (1874-1949)......Page 222
Raoul Dufy (1877-1953)......Page 224
Othon Friesz (1879-1949)......Page 228
Mikhail Larionov (1881-1964)......Page 232
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)......Page 238
Salvador Dalí (1904-1989)......Page 244
Index......Page 248

Citation preview

Flowers

Page 4: Flowers in a Japanese Vase, Augustin Thierriat, 1854 Oil on canvas, 65 x 49 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon Designed by: Baseline Co Ltd. 33 Ter – 33 Bis Mac Dinh Chi St., Star Building; 6e étage District 1, Hô Chi Minh-Ville Vietnam ISBN 978-1-78042-182-7 © Sirrocco, London, UK (English version) © Confidential Concepts, worldwide, USA © © © © © © © ©

Bauchant Estate / Artists Rights Society, New York, USA / ADAGP, Paris Manguin Estate / Artists Rights Society, New York, USA / AGAGP, Paris Matisse Estate / Artists Rights Society, New York, USA / AGAGP, Paris Larionov Estate / Artists Rights Society, New York, USA / ADAGP,Paris Friesz Estate / Artists Rights Society, New York, USA / ADAGP, Paris Picasso Estate / Artists Rights Society, New York, USA / PICASSO Dufy Estate / Artists Rights Society, New York, USA / ADAGP, Paris Kingdom of Spain, Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation / Artists Rights Society, New York, USA / VEGAP, Madrid © Vivin Estate / Artists Rights Society, New York, USA / ADAGP, Paris © Louis Estate / Artists Rights Society, New York, USA / ADAGP, Paris All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or adapted without the permission of the copyright holder, throughout the world. Unless otherwise specified, copyrights on the works reproduced lies with the respective photographers. Despite intensive research, it has not always been possible to establish copyright ownership. Where this is the case we would appreciate notification 2

“When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it is your world for a moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want it or not.” – Georgia O'Keeffe

3

Contents Babici, Onisim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .235 Baile, Jacques-Joseph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 Bauchant, André . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .223, 225, 229 Bruyas, Marc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 Burat, Fanny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 Caillebotte, Gustave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63 Cauchois, Henri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61 Cézanne, Paul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77, 79, 137, 139 Chapoton, Grégoire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .191 Chassériau, Théodore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 Dalí, Salvador . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .231 Desportes de la Fosse, Emma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Dufy, Raoul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157 Dury-Vasselon, Hortense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95 Fantin-Latour, Henri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49, 101 Friesz, Othon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169, 175 Gamba de Preydour, Jules Alexandre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125 Garneray, Jean-François . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 Gauguin, Paul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123, 133, 143, 145 Grigorescu, Nicolae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .239, 241, 243, 245, 247 Jeannin, Georges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97, 197 Kreyder, Alexis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .185 Larionov, Mikhail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141, 163, 213 Laÿs, Jean-Pierre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 Lépagnez, François . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57 Louis, Séraphine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .219, 227

5

6

Maisiat, Joanny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93 Manet, Edouard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 Manguin, Henri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .207 Matisse, Henri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131, 151, 165, 167, 173, 177, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .179, 181, 183, 189, 199, 201 Milet de Mureau, Iphigénie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Monet, Claude . . . . . . . . .47, 57, 67, 71, 73, 75, 87, 89, 91, 103, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117, 127, 135, 147, 149, 153, 155, 203, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .205, 211 Perrachon, André . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 Picasso, Pablo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .159 Redon, Odilon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43 Reignier, Jean-Marie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 Renoir, Auguste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45, 55, 83, 115, 161 Riché, Adèle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Rivoire, François . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81 Rousseau, Henri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171, 217 Rubellin, Jean-Claude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .195 Rubens, Peter Paul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9, 11 Saint-Jean, Simon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29, 27 Sénatus, Jean-Louis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .215 Sicard, Apollinaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53 Stanica, Constantin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .237 Thierriat, Augustin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 Vallayer-Coster, Anne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 van Coppenole, Jacques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .193 van Gogh, Vincent . . . . . . . . . .105, 107, 109, 111, 113, 119, 121 van Spaendonck, Corneille . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13, 17 Vivin, Louis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221, 233

7

A

dam and Eve have already been expelled from the Garden of Eden, a

miraculous place where the plant life is balanced, and flowers abound… The craftsmen of the Nile valley already delight in painting papyrus and lotus on the walls of tombs… the ultimate statements of their love of the good life. The Cretan ceramists are already painting crocuses or other flowers on vases. According to Pliny, pictures of flowers have been painted since the time of Alexander.

The Virgin in a Garland of Flowers Peter Paul Rubens, c.1618 Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen Alte Pinakothek, Munich

8

9

In the Middle Ages, the Dominican Albert the Great devoted a chapter to De plantatione viridarium, in his “Treatise on Plants”. Tapestries with the thousand flowers of the hanging of the unicorn show lilies, roses, carnations, irises… Herbs and flowers decorate royal dwellings, while flowers are used in ceremonies and religious processions. In a representational work, the artist searches for a compromise between imitation and the expression of his thought.

The Graces Adorning Nature Peter Paul Rubens The Art Museum and Gallery, Glasgow

10

11

Symbolism begins to develop each time the artist exhausts his source of inspiration in nature. Thus, painters, fascinated by the beauty of flowers which stir their imagination, express the inexpressible through allegory and symbol. But must the artist conform to the aesthetic constraints of nature…? Flowers braided into wreaths also take on several meanings. The first Christians symbolised paradise with wreaths of flowers painted close to the figures.

Basket of Flowers and Fruits Corneille van Spaendonck, 1804 oil on canvas, 93 x 73 cm Private collection

12

Roses and lilies were frequently portrayed in the Renaissance arranged as a wreath around the Virgin, saints or angels, as in La Vierge à l’enfant avec Saint-Jean (The Virgin and Child with St. John) by Filippino Lippi, kept at the National Gallery in London. Flowers, in particular jasmine with its white star shape and sweet scent, are one of the symbols of the Virgin. For this reason the Virgin is often represented in garlands of flowers.

Roses in a Blue Vase Anne Vallayer-Coster, 1775 oil on leather, 46 x 37.5 cm Private collection, London

14

15

For example, Peter Paul Rubens painted The Virgin in a Garland (kept in the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek of Munich). Flowers in the works of Van Eyck or the German masters form an entity with Christ and the Saints, and the artists take an entirely new pleasure in reproducing them. The flower symbolises grace, elegance, and kindness – meanings which are directly derived from the morphology of this graceful, elegant, delicately perfumed type of plant. Botanical naturalism emerges in Van Spaendonck’s Basket of Flowers and Fruits, with a Goldfinch on an Earthenware Jar.

Basket of Flowers and Fruits with a Goldfinch on an Earthenware Jar Corneille van Spaendonck oil on wood, 50.5 x 49 cm Private collection, Paris

16

It was developed by the illuminators of northern Europe at the end of the 15th century when they were weary of painting religious scenes. These painters, who were considered botanists too, catalogued the rare plants and flowers which were flooding in from different parts of the globe. Botanical gardens, such as those in Padua in 1543, were created to collect them. Botany developed rapidly in the second half of the 16th century. In 1601, the Flemish illustrator, Charles de l’Escluse devoted a work to rare plants, Rariorum plantarum, which is a huge illustrated natural history collection.

Flowers and Fruits on a Marble Table Iphigénie Milet de Mureau oil on canvas, 90 x 67 cm Private collection, Paris

18

From the 16th century on, the bouquet of flowers became a pretext for painters to show off their talent. It was a popular subject when the art of illumination was on the decline. Floral print-making, however, was caught up in an ever-changing organic movement, making it difficult to establish stages of style marked by innovations in the treatment attributed to this or that artist. Exotic flowers from the East or West Indies were the subject of great interest. In 1521, the Spanish discovered superb gardens in Mexico. But it was Turkey, in the second half of the 16th century, that would be the greatest source of enrichment for our gardens.

Flowers in a Greek Vase Adèle Riché watercolour on vellum, 51 x 64 cm Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tours

20

The extreme refinement of the Persian courts had prompted them to grow flowers which their priests celebrated. Vienna was the gateway to Europe for oriental flowers, Madrid the gateway for South American ones. From then on, these flowers slowly spread into the countries of the Holy Roman Empire, into Germany and the Netherlands. They were the favourite source of inspiration for the Mannerist painters. It is natural that this taste for flowers would create a new pictorial genre. Flanders seems to have preceded other countries in this respect. The oldest dated paintings of flowers are those of Jan Brueghel (1568-1625).

Flowers in a China Vase Emma Desportes de la Fosse watercolour on vellum, 79.5 x 63.7 cm Private collection, John Mitchell and Son, London

22

From Brueghel’s correspondence with Cardinal Borromeo, we know the Mannerists worked in botanical gardens themselves in order to produce bouquets, and even real herbaria. Catalogues of floral shapes were thus formed and used in various pictures. Gabrielle d’Estrées au bain (Gabrielle d’Estrées Bathing), attributed to the French School at the beginning of the 17th century and kept in the Musée Condée, displays genuine botanical studies in its compositions of plants.

Flowers in a Vase with Bird Jean-François Garneray, 1832 oil on paper mounted on paperboard, 57 x 47 cm Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tours

24

This approach continued throughout the whole first half of the 17th century, as Guirlande de fleurs (Garland of Flowers) by Gaspar Pieter II Verbruggen shows, or the Grand bouquet de fleurs (Large Bouquet of Flowers) by Jan van Huysum. The inlaid coloured mosaics of the Florentine specialists then included botanical reproductions, where jasmine flowers appeared in their tables and pictures of hard stone. These works certainly inspired the cabinet makers who transposed the same motifs onto wood.

Flowers in a Bronze Vase Théodore Chassériau oil on panel, 72 x 62.5 cm Private collection

26

This form of decoration may be called “floral” marquetry, since furniture thus adorned is designated by this term, as if it were a material. Gole’s inventory mentions “a floral table”; “a floral writing desk”. In the second half of the 17th century, naturalist floral marquetry was practised throughout a large part of Europe: in Paris, from at least 1657; by Leonardo van der Vinne working in Florence from 1659; in the Netherlands and in England. Marquetry with floral designs was very successful from the 17th century with Jan van Meheren, until around 1900 with Majorelle.

Bunch of Flowers on a Marble Table Simon Saint-Jean, 1843 oil on canvas, 36.8 x 29.2 cm Private collection, London

28

29

In the Court of Versailles the taste of luxury was rediscovered in all its artistic expressions. Textiles in particular would become the most flowery of all the decorative arts. It must be said that the brilliance of the Lyon silk artists meant that nature could be faithfully reproduced. In every instance the artist’s precision is so great that the flowers can be identified. They were arranged so as to be seen from their most characteristic angle.

Republican Flowers Marc Bruyas, 1848 oil on canvas, 60 x 50 cm Private collection

30

In the reign of Louis XIV, the flower became the dominant element of the still lives of JeanBaptiste Monnoyer (1634-1699), Jean-Baptiste Blin de Fontenay (1653-1715)… adorning mantelpieces, carpets and textiles in the apartments… whilst the portraits of women are embellished with garlands of flowers… Floral painting also occupied painters specialising in the Manufacture des Gobelins (the State factory of Gobelin tapestry in Paris).

Tulips, Hydrangeas and various Flowers in a Vase Jacques-Joseph Baile, 1852 oil on canvas, 85.5 x 65 cm Etude Chenu, Scrive, Lyon

32

In 1715, Boulle’s stocks consisted of “one hundred and seventy sketches and studies of flowers painted to life” and “approximately fifty sketches of birds painted to life by Patelson” which he must have used as a model for marquetry. This highly multi-coloured floral marquetry used tropical and indigenous wood. The essential oils listed in Gole’s stock are very revealing about the effects sought: Brazilian rosewood,

purple

wood,

yellow

wood,

purplish-red wood, green ebony, orange wood, cedar, etc…

Flowers in a Japanese Vase Augustin Thierriat, 1854 oil on canvas, 65 x 49 cm Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon

34

35

Certain pieces of furniture on Gole’s list are stated as “marquetry in four colours” (or “in three colours”). Two writing tables and a bookcase “in four colours” were also found subsequently at Etienne Fromager’s in 1702. Eventually, some flowers such as roses, lilies, lilacs and jasmine were depicted in ivory, and certain details in coloured wood parquet were executed in pewter. The pillars of the central leaf on the large closet in the Victoria and Albert Museum is executed in this way; the wood used for the base is usually ebony.

Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase Simon Saint-Jean, 1856 oil on canvas, 47 x 38 cm The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

36

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Instead of being formed from a plank of wood, however, the base could be in ivory or shell, as Daniel Alcouffe indicated at the beginning of the reign of Louis XIV. The 18th century is generally regarded as the century of botany. In the 18th century, girls from good families had teachers of floral print-making. Pierre-Joseph Redouté remains one of the best known (1759-1840). Anne Vallayer-Coster is a specialist in painting flowers (Roses dans un vase bleu (Roses in a Blue Vase)) and demonstrates her skill at this kind of art.

Homage to the Hortense Queen Jean-Marie Reignier, 1856 oil on canvas, 211 x 163 cm Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon

38

Gérard van Spaendonck (1746-1822) and Jan

Franz

van

Daël

(1764-1840)

are

recognised as painters of flowers – rose, jasmine… G. van Spaendonck launched a collection entitled, “Flowers drawn to life with a collection useful for amateurs, young artists, pupils of the central schools and draughtsmen working in factories”. This genre of work undoubtedly influenced the decorative arts in general and earthenware in particular. Many parks had their own botanical garden and allegorical monuments where people would delight, as Jean-Jacques Rousseau did, in finding the image of an idealised world.

Roses in a Crystal Vase André Perrachon oil on canvas, 115 x 89 cm Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon

40

Romantic painting of the 19th century put a damper on the artists’ interest in flowers. Théodore Chassériau is not known for his painting of flowers, but he painted some works with success, such as the Fleurs dans un vase de bronze (Flowers in a Bronze Vase). Cézanne was a remarkable painter of still life, and he applied his talent to his flower paintings. However, it was the Impressionists at the end of the century who once again found an invaluable attribute in the flower for their processes.

Flowers in a Vase Odilon Redon pastel, 54 x 39.5 cm Private collection

42

Those used blobs of colour and chromatic variations in their tones according to the seasons. Monet thus observed water lilies, Les Nymphéas blancs (White Water Lilies) and poppies; Renoir, roses (Fleurs dans un vase (Flowers in a Vase)); and Van Gogh sunflowers… Gauguin, who worked with Van Gogh, in the “Atelier du Midi”, studied the same subject.

Flowers in a Vase Auguste Renoir, c. 1866 oil on canvas, 81.3 x 65.1 cm Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris

44

At the beginning of the 20th century, flowers played a major role in Art Nouveau. The

plant

kingdom

invaded

furniture,

decorative objects and even architecture. Furthermore, the Fauves used flowers in their paintings for their many colours. Thus, Henri Matisse showed flowers in big bunches, and he used flowers for their decorative aspect. In a similar approach, Picasso used flower motifs because of their curving lines. Bouquet de fleurs dans un vase gris (Bunch of Flowers in a Grey Jug).

Garden in Blossom Claude Monet, about 1866 oil on canvas, 65 x 54 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris

46

Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) Peter Paul Rubens was born in Siegen, Germany, in 1577. Rubens’ paintings reveal a great spontaneity in his attitude towards life. In his work Rubens produced numerous portraits and pictures in which flowers play a very important decorative role. The depiction of flowers allows the harmony of shapes and colours to be celebrated.

Flowers and Fruits Henri Fantin-Latour, 1866 oil on canvas, 73 x 60 cm Galerie R. Schmit, Paris

48

It also allows for a palette of warm and golden tones, and for them to be integrated in the light effects which diversify shades and impart a great sensuality. By painting flowers Rubens could use colours as the fundamental medium for pictorial expression. Peter Paul Rubens died in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1640, but his work will always mark a turning point in 17th century art history.

Lady in the Garden Sainte-Adresse (Jeanne Marguerite Lecadre in the Garden) Claude Monet, 1867 oil on canvas, 80 x 99 cm The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

50

51

Emma Desportes de la Fosse (1810-1869) Emma Desportes de la Fosse’s paintings of flowers are characterised by ordered and wellspaced compositions. The different flowers are outlined clearly, and appear detached from their background of unified cool colour. The clarity of the flower drawings is accentuated by a fairly muted palette mainly composed of pink and blue. All these elements combined give the flowers a grandeur which is as surprising as it is impressive.

White Bubble Apollinaire Sicard, 1867 pastel on paper, 89 x 54.5 cm Private collection, London

52

53

Anne Vallayer-Coster (1744-1818) Vallayer-Coster was born in 1744 and participated with Chardin in the renewal of still life and bouquet painting in the 18th century. She did not become as well known as Chardin probably because she was a woman. She celebrated the glory of an elegant lifestyle. The velvet petals, the silk and her bouquet of flowers standing out against a neutral background, are immediately visually seductive due to the artist’s delicate and nervous strokes. Her roses and her jasmines seem to give off their voluptuous perfumes.

Flowers in a Vase Auguste Renoir, c.1869 oil on canvas, 64.9 x 54.2 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

54

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The flowers are often depicted surrounded by numerous and varied tactile materials: porcelain, bronze, wood, leather, marble or even a partly opened book (as if the act of reading has been interrupted). Although she was recognised as the painter for the aristocracy, she did not stop her artistic activity in the aftermath of the French Revolution. She died at the height of her acclaim at the beginning of the Restoration in 1818.

Vase of Camellias François Lépagnez, 1870 oil on canvas, 65 x 54.3 cm Gallery Popoff, Private collection, Paris

56

Jean-François Garneray (1755-1837) Jean-François Garneray was born in 1755. He was one of the few pupils of David (who, at one point in his career, painted flowers). Although he was primarily a portrait and interiors artist, Garneray depicted flowers, especially towards the end of his career. He was in fact one of the main precursors of nonspecialised flower artists who appeared around the middle of the century and who would become more and more numerous.

Lilac in a Glass with Three Feet Edouard Manet, 1882 oil on canvas, 27 x 21 cm Galerie R. Schmit, Paris

58

Although his compositions are a little disordered, the few canvases depicting flowers are magnificent and showcase the artist’s technical skills. Colour never takes second place to drawing and a sort of mysterious grandeur emanates from these paintings. His Museum of Tours bouquet is mid-way between a still life and a depiction of exuberant life due to his usage of bright colours. Garneray died in 1837.

Chrysanthemums in a Bronze Ballot Box Henri Cauchois oil on canvas, 93.5 x 73 cm Gallery Popoff, Private collection, Paris

60

Corneille van Spaendonck (1756-1840) Van Spaendonck was born in the Netherlands in 1756 and dedicated his entire career to painting flowers. He was heir to the tradition of 17th-century Dutch painting and produced very meticulous paintings of flowers which brought him great success. The composition of his paintings of flowers are characteristic of Dutch art: the diagonal aspect, the flower association, the basket and fruit, regardless of the season.

Lilacs in a Vase Gustave Caillebotte oil on canvas, 65 x 54 cm Galerie R. Schmit, Paris

62

The dark and simple backgrounds enhance his luminous palette and his accurate drawing. Van Spaendonck wanted to present his flowers in their true decorative form. He was the director of the Sèvres factory from 1785 to 1800 and he also painted his flower motifs on snuff boxes and vases. He would be the designer at the Sèvres factory until 1808. From 1789 he showed his flowers in exhibitions. The artist died in 1840.

Rose and Volubilis Fanny Burat, 1871 watercolour on vellum, 16 x 19 cm Private collection, London

64

Iphigénie Milet de Mureau (1780-?) Iphigénie Milet de Mureau, the Viscountess Decaux, was born in 1780. Despite the fact that she was a pupil of Van Daël and that she regularly exhibited in Paris from 1808, hardly any of her work remains.

Augustin Thierriat (1789-1870) Augustin Thierriat was born in 1789 and worked as archeologist, landscape painter, engraver and museum curator. For thirty years (from 1823 to 1853) he was the professor of the flower class in the Lyon School of Fine Arts.

Lilacs in Dull Weather Claude Monet, 1872-1873 oil on canvas, 50 x 65.5 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris

66

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He managed to reveal the individual personalities of his students, and many of his pupils would reach success, not only in the Lyon factory (which produced large quantities of fully fashioned fabrics and silks) but also in French flower painting under the Second Empire and in establishing the 1900 style, as did ChabalDussurgey, Maisiat and Rivoire, for example. At the beginning of his career, in the 1820’s, Augustin Thierriat produced numerous lithographs of flowers which he went on to publish in a text book in 1824.

The Meal of the Shepherd Jean-Pierre Läys, 1872 oil on canvas, 96 x 61.5 cm Gallery Popoff, Private collection

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Towards the end of his life he wished to present them again, this time on canvas. His muted and well thought out composition seemed provocative in an era where flowers were depicted gathered. Also, his production in porcelain and his attention to detail in the manner of the 17th-century Dutch artists are essential elements in his rigorous manner. Thierriat fused accurate drawing, simple composition and realistic colour.

Camille Monet at the Window Claude Monet, 1873 oil on canvas, 60 x 49.5 cm Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Richmond, Virginia

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Adèle Riché (1791-1887) Adèle Riché was born in 1791 and was the daughter of a gardener (which is actually rare amongst flower painters). She spent her whole life working in a museum. She would study under Van Spaendonck (Gérard, the brother of Corneille) but she would also be a student of Redouté whose tradition she would maintain well after 1870. Her paintings are characteristic of the 1820’s: they are very influenced by Dutch art, by the opulent flowers, by bouquets ensconced in niches and by the choice of the flowers themselves (often roses and tulips).

Lilacs in the Sun Claude Monet, 1873 oil on canvas, 50 x 65 cm Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

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These flowers are perfectly reproduced, so perfectly that they sometimes lack character. Riché exhibited her watercolours in Paris between 1819 and 1836. She died in 1887.

Apollinaire Sicard (1807-1881) Apollinaire Sicard was born in 1807 and was one of the many students of Thierriat at the School of Fine Arts in Lyon. He would later run an antique shop and this would allow him the time necessary for painting his numerous flower pastels. His flowers are both delicate and possess powerful plasticity. He died in 1881.

Poppies at Argenteuil Claude Monet, 1873 oil on canvas, 50 x 65 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris

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Simon Saint-Jean (1808-1860) Simon Saint-Jean was born in 1808. He studied under Thierriat in the School of Fine Arts in Lyon, and was one of the few who succeeded in Paris. He is one of the flower painters of the 19th century who swiftly adopted a style which departed from the academic constraints of their predecessors. Saint-Jean’s career benefited from the Louis XV style coming back into fashion under the July Monarchy.

Flowers in a little Delft Vase Paul Cézanne, 1873-1877 oil on canvas, 41 x 27 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris

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In addition to this, during a trip to Belgium and Holland he discovered great baroque floral art. He had his own garden where he grew flowers that he liked painting. Simon Saint-Jean acquired an international reputation with compositions that he painted for the Netherlands, Germany, England, Italy and Russia.

Bunch of Flowers in a Blue Vase Paul Cézanne, 1873-1875 oil on canvas, 56 x 46 cm The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

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Saint-Jean also painted opulent bouquets of mixed flowers, delicate flowers just with their leaves and some buds, or large compositions which call to mind the future panoramic visions of Monet’s flower meadows. His flowers are very realistic and in harmonious shades. However, from 1845 onwards Saint-Jean was criticised. His paintings were accused of being mediocre, indelicate and pedantic. He spent his whole life aspiring to posterity but in vain. He died in 1860 and had in fact exhibited his flower paintings in the first universal exhibitions (at the Crystal Palace in London in 1851 and in Paris in 1855).

Roses and Butterflies François Rivoire, 1874 gouache on paper, 70 x 55 cm Galerie Jean Charvériat, Lyon

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Jean-Marie Reignier (1815-?) Jean-Marie Reignier was born in 1815. He was the nephew of a metal engraver and entered the School of Fine Arts in Lyon 1832 where he was a student in Thierriat’s flower class. He exhibited for the first time at the Exhibition of 1846. His paintings of flowers are sumptuous, full of symbolism and they demonstrate his technical expertise. His drawing is energetic and his palette iridescent. He was a very popular painter of flowers and he opened a private, fee-paying studio.

Garden in the Rue Cortot, Montmartre Auguste Renoir, 1876 oil on canvas, 151.8 x 97.5 cm Carnegie Institute Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

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The studio was a competitor of the famous textile and silk factory in Lyon that trained numerous apprentices and perfected the skills of professionals. His art was recognised officially

and

he

received

the

Légion

d’honneur award under the Second Empire. He has a loyal clientele as is proved by his exhibitions in provincial “French Friends of the Arts Organisations”, in particular in Boulogne and in Bordeaux.

Corner of the Garden at Montgeron Claude Monet, 1876-1877 oil on canvas, 173 x 192 cm The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

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Reignier participated in the Universal Exhibition of 1855, along with exhibitors of Lyon flower artists, where he received an honourable mention. He exhibited two canvases: A la mémoire de Jean Gerson, chancelier de l’Université (In memory of Jean Gerson, University Chancellor) and Le jour et la nuit (Day and Night). In this way he was very successful and became the professor of the flower class at the Lyon School of Fine Arts, which unfortunately began losing importance in 1894. After his success critical reviews quickly followed, judging his flowers to be too symbolic, allegoric or quite simply anecdotal.

The Poppy Field near Vétheuil Claude Monet, 1879 oil on canvas, 70 x 90 cm Collection E.G. Bührle, Zürich

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Jacques-Joseph Baile (1819-1856) Jacques-Joseph Baile was born in 1819 and was a student at the Lyon School of Fine Arts in France. He then went on to become an industrial designer. Even though he was often criticised by his contemporaries for the diverse nature and the arbitrary usage of colour in his depictions of flower bouquets, his bouquets are drawn in a meticulous fashion and are based on numerous preparatory studies. JacquesJoseph Baile died in 1856 after the presentation of several paintings at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1855.

Bunch of Sunflowers Claude Monet, 1880 oil on canvas, 101 x 81.5 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

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Théodore Chassériau (1819-1856) Théodore Chassériau was born in SanDomingo in 1819. Chassériau did paint flowers, albeit rarely. As in the rest of his paintings, Chassériau managed to combine the grace of the classic lines of Ingres with the colours of Delacroix. These characteristics, along with jerky brush strokes and his preference for shapes and light make his depictions of flowers particularly interesting.

Vase of Asters Claude Monet, 1880 oil on canvas, 85 x 65 cm Galerie R. Schmit, Paris

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The purpose of his flowers is purely decorative: his aim is to dazzle using explosive colours which contrast with the dark background. Even though the depiction is traditional there is an undeniably modern touch. He died prematurely in Paris in 1856. He was thirty-seven.

Flowers in an Eastern Vase Joanny Maisiat oil on canvas, 55 x 45 cm Private collection

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Hortense Dury-Vasselon Hortense Dury-Vasselon was born in Paris, France and was a student of Antoine Vollon (a painter of flowers in the far presto style who was very important and very well-known). Her flower paintings are very decorative and corresponded perfectly with the taste for this genre in the 1880’s. Dury-Vasselon liked to add luxurious accessories to her compositions (such as a porcelain vase, velvet draping…) as well as opulent and beautiful flowers.

Roses in a Vase on Red Drapery Hortense Dury-Vasselon oil on canvas, 92 x 73 cm Private collection, Paris

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Joanny Maisiat (1824-1910) Joanny Maisiat was born in 1824 and was first trained in the studio of his father, Etienne. Then, as from 1843 he became a student of Thierriat (in Lyon) and later on of Lehmann in Paris in 1852. His flowers, which he painted in situ (i.e. in their natural environment), showcase the great skill of the artist. In his work he highlights the different shapes and textures of the flowers that he paints.

Roses and Lilacs in a Ground Pot Georges Jeannin oil on canvas, 65 x 50 cm Private collection

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In addition, his compositions are balanced and the play on light makes the paintings majestic and could make them comparable to the work of Chardin who excelled in the subject. He participated in the creation of the 1900 style for flower painting. Joanny Maisiat exhibited regularly in Paris between 1852 and 1900 before his death in 1910.

Monet’s Garden in Vétheuil Claude Monet, 1881 oil on canvas, 150 x 120 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

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Jean-Pierre Laÿs (1825-1887) Jean-Pierre Laÿs was born to a farming family in 1825 and was hired as a valet by Simon Saint-Jean. He was to prepare the colours traditionally and in exchange Simon Saint-Jean would teach him watercolours and oil painting. Despite his incontestable thoroughness, his brightly coloured flowers are painted with a vision and a naïvety which transform his paintings into veritable odes to nature. He died in 1887.

Flowers in an Earthenware Vase Henri Fantin-Latour, 1883 oil on canvas, 22.5 x 29 cm The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

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François Lépagnez (1828-1870) François Lépagnez was born in 1828. He worked as a printer, lithographer and landscape painter, and also painted flowers (albeit very rarely), especially on large canvases at the end of his life. His few flower paintings, by their unfinished nature, seem very modern and are very important although the painter, who died in 1870, will undoubtedly be forgotten.

The Poppy Field, near Giverny Claude Monet, 1885 oil on canvas, 65 x 81 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts

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André Perrachon (1828-1909) André Perrachon was born in 1828 in Lyon, France. He attended the School of Fine Arts in Lyon before going to Paris to study under Chabal-Dussurgey in the Gobelins district. On his return to Lyon in 1853, he was particularly well-known for his studio which trained real specialists in flower painting from 1876.

Still Life. Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers Vincent van Gogh, 1888 oil on canvas, 93 x 73 cm National Gallery, London

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He trained Claudia Bret-Charbonnier, Thérèse Guérin, Marie Girard-Nauwelaers, Marie Hodieux-Belous and Mathilde Mitton. But André Perrachon was also the most famous and the most talented painter of roses. He died in 1909 but his grandson Joseph Perrachon (born in 1883 and died in 1969), would follow the teachings of his grandfather for a certain period and he too would become an important painter of flowers.

Sunflowers in a Vase Vincent van Gogh, 1888 oil on canvas, 73 x 68 cm Galerie R. Schmit, Paris

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Edouard Manet (1832-1883) Edouard Manet was born in 1832 and was one of the generation of artists which was formed during the Second Empire and which no longer represented specialists in flower painting. In fact, at this time artists were as likely to paint portraits, landscapes or even historical pictures and only consecrate themselves sporadically to flowers (he would, however, produce around fifty flower paintings).

Madam Roulin Rocking the Cradle (La Berceuse) Vincent van Gogh, 1889 oil on canvas, 92 x 73 cm Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo

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As far as Manet is concerned, it was the fact of his forced immobility following an illness (even though he did also produce paintings of flowers while he was in good health) that really obliged him between 1881 and 1883 to become a more applied painter of flowers (he would paint around twenty small bouquets). In his painting, and especially in his depictions of flowers, Manet wished to keep the immediate sensation of nature.

Still Life. Vase with Twelve Sunflowers Vincent van Gogh, 1889 oil on canvas, 92 x 72.5 cm The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia

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So he tended to use a language free of artifice and convention, simplifying his vision in order to retain only the essential. In this way his paintings of flowers are “reduced” to the simple oppositions of light and shade and to the tint of (often bright) colours. He painted quickly and prolifically, and he often outlined his flowers. Aware of his success, Manet painted flowers until he was exhausted. In fact, according to Edmond Bazire it was in order to paint a bouquet that Manet picked up a paintbrush for the first time. Edouard Manet died in Paris in 1883.

Trees in the Garden of Saint-Paul Hospice Vincent van Gogh, 1889 oil on canvas, 73 x 60 cm Private collection, USA

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Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904) Henri Fantin-Latour was born in 1836 in Grenoble, France. In addition to his famous group portraits, Fantin-Latour produced numerous flower paintings. These flowers are simultaneously old-fashioned and modern and surrounded by a light and subtle luminescence. Often, when viewed close up, the paintings reveal details and objects which give a realistic impression.

Roses Auguste Renoir, 1890 oil on canvas, 35 x 27 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris

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They combine meticulous drawing with intricate brushwork and lovely harmonies of colours. In this way his still lifes, like his portraits, have a realistic feeling and great pictorial quality. Fantin-Latour sold many flower paintings on the anglo-saxon art market. He died at the beginning of our era, in 1904.

Poppy Field Claude Monet, 1890 oil on canvas, 65 x 92 cm The Art Institute of Chicago Collection Mr and Mrs W.W. Kimball, Chicago

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Nicolae Grigorescu (1838-1907) Nicolae Grigorescu was a Romanian painter born in Pitaru in 1838. With Grigorescu, a fine judge of the human soul and of nature, the representation of rustic scenes was changed into an artistic credo. He worked on it with a sincere passion, far from the conventionality of his contemporaries, such as Theodor Aman, Sava Hentia, and Carol Popp de Szathmary. Through flowers Grigorescu was able to express freely his taste for the spontaneous depiction of his visual sensations.

Poppies and Butterflies Vincent van Gogh, 1890 oil on canvas, 34.5 x 25.5 cm Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam

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According to his friends, during his numerous trips Grigorescu was capable of getting out of his wagon to look at a field or a flower which he liked, staring at it for several moments, and then setting up his parasol and his easel and setting to work immediately without making a sketch or drawing an outline. The painting would be completed in twenty or twenty-five minutes and it was not just a simple study but a piece that could be presented at the Exhibition, as the artist’s preliminary sketches “do not seem to be such, but rather finished work”. In this way his work was imbued with energy and daring and uncommon charm.

Still Life. Pink Roses in a Vase Vincent van Gogh, 1890 oil on canvas, 92.6 x 73.7 cm Collection Mr and Mrs Walter H. Annenberg Rancho Mirage, California

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The light palette, the harmony of colours applied in energetic brush strokes and the play of light and shade mean that his paintings can be considered alongside the best of the genre. Unfortunately Grigorescu was sent to the front during the war of independence against the Turks in 1877, and he abandoned his flower paintings to depict human suffering during the fighting, and upon his return he almost never painted landscapes or young peasants again. He returned to his native land of Romania and died there in 1907.

Te Tiare Farani (The Flowers of France) Paul Gauguin, 1891 oil on canvas, 72 x 92 cm Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

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Alexis Kreyder (1839-1912) Kreyder was born in 1839 and was a very fashionable artist at the end of the Second Empire and until the beginning of the 20th century. His work was aimed at a bourgeoise clientele and was a little neophytic in nature. Kreyder, who had indisputed technical capacity, composed canvases by layering bright colours systematically. But Kreyder was also one of those artists who liked painting flowers in situ with strong outlines, slightly viewed from above and which stand out delicately from their environment (from the sky, for example). He was an artist who was much appreciated by amateur flower painters; he died in 1912.

Flowers on Curbstone of a Well Alexandre-Jules Gamba de Preydour, 1896 oil on canvas, 62 x 47 cm Private collection

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Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) Paul Cézanne was born in 1839 in Aix-enProvence, France and died in 1906. At the end of 1872, Cézanne settled in Auvers-sur-Oise. From 1872 to 1875, he closely associated himself with Camille Pissarro, and they worked together in the open air. It was precisely at this moment that Cézanne’s impressionist period began, a period of direct contact with nature, keen observation of light reflections, and a lightening of his palette.

Pond with Water Lilies Claude Monet, 1897-1899 oil on canvas, 90 x 90 cm The Art Museum, Princeton University Princeton, New Jersey

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In Auvers, at the home of Dr. Gachet, an art lover and a friend of the Impressionists, Cézanne, like Van Gogh after him, painted many still-lifes. The depiction of flowers lent itself particularly well to the Cézanne’s research into space, volume geometry and the relationship between colour and shape. His research tends to communicate by touch the richness of the chromatic relationship established by light, bright and deep colours (which design shapes) while maintaining the sensation of reality and of the material nature of mass.

Pink Water Lilies Claude Monet, 1897-1899 oil on canvas, 81 x 100 cm Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome

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Towards the end of his career, Cézanne also made free-hand copies of Delacroix’s flower paintings, like 1902’s Etude de fleurs (Flower Study). A bouquet of yellow, pinkish, orange, and bluish flowers and buds with green leaves is depicted against a bluish-grey background. The leaves are outlined in black. The manner of painting is not the same throughout the picture, the background being painted more lightly, in less dense strokes.

Vase of Sunflowers Henri Matisse, c.1898 oil on canvas, 46 x 38 cm The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

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Along the lower edge of the picture is a greyish-yellow strip, probably representing the lower edge of the table. There are several scratches, presumably made by Cézanne. Cézanne admired Delacroix very much, but their paintings were not presented together until the 1978 exhibition “De Renoir à Matisse” (“from Renoir to Matisse”).

Te avae no Maria, The Month of Mary (or Woman Carrying Flowers) Paul Gauguin, 1899 oil on canvas, 97 x 72 cm The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

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Odilon Redon (1840-1916) Odilon Redon was born in 1840 in Bordeaux, France. Redon produced several flower paintings but they remained on the periphery of his main activity. He was a friend of the botanist Clavaud from childhood and he showed a particular interest in reports of transforming inert matter into live matter.

White Water Lilies Claude Monet, 1899 oil on canvas, 89 x 93 cm Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

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His flower paintings demonstrate great qualities of transposition of reality, combining the beauty of his technique and excellent chromatic orchestration. All these elements combined imbue the paintings with an exceptional glow. Redon wrote “Flowers arrive in the meeting of two rivers, that of representation and that of memory. This is the land of art itself, the actual land of what is real, ploughed and worked by the mind.”

Study of Flowers Paul Cézanne, c.1900 oil on canvas Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

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Redon was part of that new generation which produced paintings of flowers with disconcerting speed. He used pastels, a material which is particularly well-adapted to expressing ephemeral splendour. Later, like his peers, he would have his own garden. Redon exhibited around twenty flower paintings in 1907 in an exhibition he organised himself. Redon died in 1916.

Flowers Paul Cézanne oil on canvas, 52 x 42.6 cm Galerie R. Schmit, Paris

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Claude Monet (1840-1926) He was born in Paris, France, in 1840 and joined the Gleyre studio in 1862 where he met Bazille, Sisley and Renoir. It was in fact with Bazille that, as from 1863, Monet started to paint “on motifs” in a small village near Barbizon. Monet produced his first flower painting in 1864, which he sent to Rouen for an exhibition. This depiction of nature was particularly adapted to impressionist research, a movement for which Monet would become one of the most brilliant representatives.

A Bunch of Wild Flowers Mikhail Larionov, c.1900 oil on canvas, 69.5 x 67.5 cm Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg

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Monet’s most famous work is 1887’s Le Champ de coquelicots (The Poppy Field). The poppy field theme never lost its attraction for the artist. Before going to Holland in 1886 and elaborating the red tones of The Tulip Field, Monet treated this theme in a unique way. He often depicted the golden-green expanse of field with the scarlet flashes of poppies running through it. This is exemplified by The Poppies (A Promenade of 1873) and The Poppy Field at Lavacourt of 1881.

Sunflowers Paul Gauguin, 1901 oil on canvas, 72 x 91 cm The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

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In pictures on the poppy field motif done after 1886, the artist no longer cares about revealing the actual shapes of the flowers, but dissolves them into a continuous stream of red tones interspersed with greens. It is precisely in this manner that the Hermitage canvas is executed. Its dating presents great difficulty. Wildenstein assigns the picture to 1890, linking it with a series of four landscapes devoted to one and the same motif. However, the Hermitage canvases differ from the landscape series in both theme and execution.

Still Life with Grapefruits Paul Gauguin, c.1901 oil on canvas, 66 x 76 cm Private collection

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While in all the landscapes of this series Monet repeatedly depicts the slope of a hill in the right-hand part of the composition, just behind the trees, in the later canvas he unfolds the chain of hills along the entire horizontal of the picture far away from the poplars. A forest visible in front of the hills is absent in the landscape series. By its painterly features the Hermitage canvas shares greater affinity with Lucerne and Poppies, dated 1887 by the artist and showing a locality south of Giverny.

Water Lilies, Water Landscape, Clouds Claude Monet, 1903 oil on canvas, 73 x 100 cm Private collection

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This landscape echoes the Hermitage painting above all in the rendering of the sky covered by small white-edged clouds. The thick, multi-layered texture of brush strokes typical of the Hermitage canvas can also be seen in other works by Monet dating from 1887, such as Barque (Boat) and Barques à Giverny (Boats at Giverny). Consequently, there is some reason to believe that the Hermitage picture was painted in 1887, when the artist worked on Lucerne and Poppies.

Water Lilies Claude Monet, 1903 oil on canvas, 81 x 100 cm Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, Ohio

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Monet’s flower paintings put onto canvas the real sensation and impression of nature. Progressively the finished painting stops expressing the material qualities of the flowers. They become a pretext to studies of harmonies of colour depicted by drifts of colour and which are enhanced by splashes of different colours. Also, in line with all the Impressionists, the study of atmospheric effects and different sources of light provided by nature (depending on the season or the time of day, for example) is one of the main elements of his flower paintings.

Bouquet (Two-Handled Vase) Henri Matisse, 1907 oil on canvas, 75 x 61 cm The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

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In his last paintings form has completely disintegrated so that only the encounter of painter and nature is represented. Monet died in Giverny in 1926 after he had finished his last series of paintings depicting his flowerfilled garden and the pond covered with his famous water lilies, Les Nymphéas.

Water Lilies Claude Monet, 1908 oil on canvas, 90 x 92 cm Private collection, Japan

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Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) Auguste Renoir was born in Limoges, France, in 1841. He began by dedicating himself to Impressionism but quickly moved over to line painting. It was only at the end of his career and of his life that Renoir, who was by then partially paralysed, painted flowers. His vases contain flowers of powerful realism.

Water Lilies Claude Monet, 1908 oil on canvas, 92 x 90 cm Worcester Art Museum Worcester, Massachusetts

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Light brush strokes, colour shading and the total absence of outlines create an impression of a harmonious and quivering ensemble. That is the scene that Jean, his son, found when he returned wounded from the First World War. In the face of cataclysms taking place around him, Renoir’s world remained unshakeable. Neither war nor illness could rob the artist of his delight in admiring the face of a young woman or the freshness of flowers.

Bunch of Flowers with Self-Portrait Raoul Dufy oil on canvas, 81 x 65 cm Galerie R. Schmit, Paris

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In the course of his life he painted a large number of still lifes, but that was not due to any particular attachment to the genre. For Renoir flowers were no less changeable than a landscape, and the chance to capture and set down the charm of a moment in their lives always attracted him. One set of roses were probably painted on the Bérards’ estate at Wargemont. The artist focused on a distinctive viewpoint – slightly above his subject. Soft patches of colour and the complete absence of outlines immerse the bouquet in a constantly quivering aerial environment.

Bunch of Flowers in a Grey Jug Pablo Picasso, 1908 oil on canvas, 81 x 65 cm The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

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Perhaps it was with this work that Renoir rediscovered the ability “to create an open-air environment in the studio” about which he wrote in a letter to Berthe Morisot. Two strokes of white in the light lie alongside fast, dynamic strokes of white mixed with red and pink. The white tablecloth is full of reflections of pink and pale blue. On the foot of the wine glass there are light strokes of dark blue, pale blue and pure white. And the whole is fused into that single colour medium which was the meaning and the harmony of his painting.

An Ode to Flowers Auguste Renoir, 1909 oil on canvas, 46 x 36 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris

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Renoir painted flowers at forty, before he met Aline. He continued to paint them even when confined to a wheelchair. Jean wrote: “He asked for the box of paints and brushes and began to paint the anemones which Nénette, our nice maid, had picked for him. For several hours he absorbed himself with the flowers and forgot about his illness. Then he made a sign for the brush to be taken away and said: ‘I think I am beginning to get the hang of this.’ That was how Renoir spent the last minutes of his life. He died in December, 1919.

A Spray in a Jug Mikhail Larionov, 1909-1910 oil on canvas, 69 x 50.5 cm Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg

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Georges Jeannin (1841-1925) Jeannin was born in Paris in 1841 and was an important and prolific painter of flowers at the end of the 19th century. He would actually become the President of the Company of Flower Artists. His palette is light, perhaps influenced by that of the Impressionists. His flowers are painted with energetic brush strokes. He is one of the few artists who, under the Second Empire, specialised in painting flowers.

Bouquet of Flowers in a White Vase Henri Matisse, c.1909 oil on canvas, 81 x 100.5 cm Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

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After the war finished in 1870, Jeannin, like many of his contemporaries, painted “patriotic” bouquets in the colours of the French flag which were very popular. He then participated in the Universal Exhibition of 1889 presenting a painting of the hollyhocks which became his speciality. Georges Jeannin died in 1925.

Fruits, Flowers and the Wall Painting “The Dance” Henri Matisse, 1909 oil on canvas, 89.5 x 117.5 cm The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

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François Rivoire (1842-1919) François Rivoire was born in Lyon, France, in 1842 and studied under Thierriat and Reignier before becoming a professor himself. He was one of the numerous artists of the “Lyon School” who entered posterity, as did many of his students. He possessed an amazing capacity for detail in meticulous drawings.

Still Life with a Statuette of Buddha Othon Friesz, 1909 oil on canvas, 51 x 42 cm The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

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He settled in Paris in 1880 where he chose watercolour over gouache. His watercolours are extraordinary in their enormous dimensions, the complexity of composition and the density of their reserves and colours. Around 1900 he expressed the ephemeral quality of flowers by using pastel. François Rivoire died in 1919.

A Negro Attacked by a Panther Henri Rousseau, c.1910 oil on canvas, 114 x 162 cm Museum of Arts, Basle

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Henri Rousseau (1844-1910) Henri Rousseau was born in Laval, France, in 1844. The work of the “Douanier Rousseau” is very original and naïve in its reproduction of the simple, visible reality, but it has been planned in terms of technique and the research into accurate detail. Rousseau, who took his inspiration from the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, produced bouquets of flowers from 1883 on.

Girl with Tulips (Portrait of Jeanne Vaderin) Henri Matisse, 1910 Signed and dated bottom left: Henri Matisse 10 oil on canvas, 92 x 73,5 cm The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

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The shades of his flowers are both fresh and delicate, with clean lines and clear shapes which open the surface of the canvas to dreams, introspection and the subconscious. He often used a fantastic style to give them an exotic aspect. The “Douanier Rousseau” exhibited in the Salon des Indépendants until his death in Paris in 1910.

Tulips and Daisies Othon Friesz, 1910 oil on canvas, 64.8 x 80.8 cm The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

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Jules Alexandre Gamba de Preydour (1846-1931) Alexandre-Jules Gamba de Preydour was born in 1846 and was a student of Gérôme in Paris. He mainly painted portraits, landscapes, still lifes and flowers. His compositions are anecdotal, even “kitsch” and painted by an energetic, light, accurate hand. Like many contemporary artists who painted flowers, he also depicts numerous wells or interior cloisters covered in flowers.

Seville Still Life Henri Matisse, 1910-1911 oil on canvas, 90 x 117 cm The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

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Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894) Gustave Caillebotte actually produced more than sixty flower paintings, although he belonged to the generation which reached maturity after the 1870 war (he was born in 1848) and which painted flowers only sporadically (while artists used to be specialists in this subject). Like his Impressionist contemporaries, Caillebotte wished to commit the beauty of the flowers in his own gardens to canvas.

Spanish Still Life Henri Matisse, 1910-1911 oil on canvas, 89.5 x 116.3 cm The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

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Attention to detail, notes of colour and the way he depicted light have made him a very important Impressionist painter despite the fact that his works of art are more realistic, diverse and original than those of other artists of the movement. Gustave Caillebotte died prematurely in 1894 (at 46), leaving behind him a magnificent collection of Impressionist paintings.

Vase with Iris Henri Matisse, 1910-1911 oil on canvas, 117.5 x 100.5 cm The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

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Grégoire Chapoton (1845-1915) Grégoire Chapoton was born in SaintRambert-sur-Loire, France in 1845 and was a student at the Lyon School of Fine Arts. He produced meticulous flower drawings in subtle colours which give a great sense of unity to the bouquet as a result of his particularly skillful way of rendering the effects of light. He became a popular flower painter. Eventually, before his death in 1915, Chapoton became one of the founder members of the “Salon des Indépendants.”

Goldfish Henri Matisse, 1911 oil on canvas, 147 x 98 cm Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

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Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) Paul Gauguin was born in Paris in 1848. Flowers are rarely dealt with on their own but they are present in the work of Gauguin. The painter’s palette is rich, the blues are intense, the reds are warm and his greens develop a multitude of shades to communicate the multitude of shades found in vegetation. Light emanates from the colours and eliminates shadows and form. Due to the luxuriance of their colours the flowers convey the blooming of nature and are very often highly symbolic.

Roses in a Pitcher Alexis Kreyder oil on canvas, 80 x 65 cm Private collection

184

The painting Te tiare farani, Fleurs de France (1891, Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts) is very symbolic for Gauguin. The year 1891, the date the picture bears, was crucial for Gauguin. In that year he left France for Tahiti, where he stayed till 1893. This stay in Tahiti determined his future life and career, for in 1895, after a sojourn in France, he returned there for good. The canvas was painted in the first year of his stay in Tahiti, and is full of nostalgia for the abandoned homeland.

Corner of the Workshop Henri Matisse, 1912 oil on canvas, 193 x 115 cm Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

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Hence the strange contrast between the fullblooded still life with the blossoming oleander branches and the melancholic face of the islander wearing a hat, his listless posture and his absent look. The manner in which the still life is depicted – a tabletop with a pitcher of large flowers – betrays the influence of Cézanne. The two figures, however, are the artist’s last homage to past idols – Cézanne, Degas and Manet – and are a souvenir of his old faraway homeland (France).

Tropaeolum and the Mural Painting “The Dance” Henri Matisse, 1912 oil on canvas, 193 x 114 cm Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

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In his letter of October 1898, Gauguin asked Daniel de Monfreid to send him some flower seeds and bulbs: dahlias, nasturtiums and different sunflowers which would stand the hot climate. He added that he adored flowers and wanted to embellish his small plantation. This letter, although indirectly, points to the fact that Sunflowers were painted not at Atuona, as is generally believed, but in Tahiti, since, having moved to the Marquesas in August 1901, Gauguin settled at Atuona only in September and would not have had the time to grow a garden there.

Flowers Grégoire Chapoton oil on painting, 148 x 99 cm Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tours

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Both in composition and in the set of objects (the armchair and the vase), it is most closely related to Sunflowers in an Armchair. Earlier in his career, in 1880, Gauguin used a similar compositional pattern – the cut flowers on a chair – in the still life To Make a Bouquet.

Giroflées in a Vase Jacques van Coppenole oil on canvas, 61 x 50 cm Private collection

192

The mystic atmosphere is created by a strange object in the background, resembling a solar disk or a flower, with the ‘All-Seeing Eye’ in the centre. The idea of this flower-symbol was undoubtedly borrowed from Odilon Redon, to whom Gauguin devoted a chapter in “Avant et Après” (“Before and After”). The sunflowers – a traditional symbol of worship of supernatural power – are encircling the ‘All-Seeing Eye’.

Bunch of Flowers and Fruits on an Entablature Jean-Claude Rubellin oil on canvas, 80 x 65 cm Private collection

194

This image might have been introduced to create a metaphor: flowers-human eyes. The idea that this symbolic element was not accidental is supported by its appearance in Sunflowers and Pears and by the still life where Gauguin reproduced the same flowers and Puvis de Chavannes’s Hope, as if expressing in each of the canvases his faith in a better future in the Marquesas. The girl’s head occurs, in reverse, in a pencil drawing of a girl seated in an armchair in the Leipzig manuscript of Avant et Après (fol. 125). Paul Gauguin died aged 55 in 1903.

Peonies in a Pot out of Glass Georges Jeannin oil on canvas, 72 x 50 cm Private collection

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Henri Cauchois (1850-1911) Henri Cauchois was born in 1850 in Rouen, France, and was a very prolific painter. He would be one of the first painters to depict flowers in patriotic colours several years after the defeat of 1870 (and these flowers would once again become popular after the First World War). In fact, he juxtaposed cornflowers, daisies and poppies in reference to the country’s battered flag.

Pale Blue Vase with Flowers on a Dark Blue Tablecloth Henri Matisse, 1913 oil on canvas, 147 x 98 cm Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

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Apart from his “patriotic” paintings, Cauchois also painted flowers with fewer “political connotations” in warm, contrasting colours. He arranged his flowers in a very traditional way and the composition was often on the diagonal. Cauchois was extremely skilled technically in using bright colour which gives his paintings great importance in the history of flower paintings. Henri Cauchois painted flowers until his death in 1911.

Bouquet of Flowers on the Veranda Henri Matisse, 1913 oil on canvas, 146 x 97 cm The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

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Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) Van Gogh was born in 1853 in Groot-Zundert and suffered numerous failures, both professional and personal. In 1881, following a period of poverty and moral distress (which would affect him all his life), Van Gogh began to paint with a sombre realism. But as from 1885 (notably after having seen the works of art of Rubens) Van Gogh discovered the bright colours which would be an integral part of the rest of his work.

Water Lilies Claude Monet, 1914-1917 oil on canvas, 200 x 200 cm Musée Marmottan, Paris

202

Then, in Paris, he met several Impressionist painters (such as Pissarro, Degas and Gauguin, who would become his friends) from whom he would appropriate a light palette and technique. He settled in Provence, France, in 1888 and abandoned Impressionism for more vigorous brush strokes and dazzling colours. In the middle of August, he started the cycle of the sunflowers for the guest room: “I am hard at it, painting with the same enthusiasm of a Marseillais eating bouillabaisse, which won’t surprise you when you know that what I’m at is the painting of some big sunflowers.

Water Lilies Claude Monet, 1915 oil on canvas, 160 x 180 cm Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon

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I have three canvases going – first, three huge flowers in a green vase, with a light background […]; second, three flowers, one gone to seed, having lost its petals, and one a bud against a royal-blue background […]; third, twelve flowers and buds in a yellow vase […] The last one is therefore light on light, and I hope it will be the best […] If I carry out this idea there will be a dozen panels. So the whole thing will be a symphony in blue and yellow.”

Flowers Henri Manguin, 1915 oil on canvas, 41.7 x 33.5 cm The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

206

Of the projected twelve sunflower pictures, he completed only two, because the ‘models’ disappeared too quickly. He therefore turned to a new subject: the garden of the poet. Three variations on this theme, together with the two sunflower paintings became the decoration for the guest room, which was waiting for Gauguin’s arrival. Van Gogh’s flower depictions demonstrate his great capacity for communicating life. These flowers are often painted in one tint (influenced by Japanese prints) and the light illuminates their bright colours (often primary and complementary) applied with brush strokes.

Romanian Painting Unknown artist

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So these paintings represent the internal world of the painter and his suffering while keeping his great strength of expression and reality. In 1889, Van Gogh was voluntarily admitted to an asylum in Saint-Rémy-deProvence where he painted several more flower canvases based on the harmony of yellow, green, blue and purple while vast panels of saturated colour make up the background. Van Gogh committed suicide in July 1890.

The Pond with Water Lilies Claude Monet, 1917-1919 oil on canvas, 130 x 200 cm Private collection, USA

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Louis Vivin (1861-1936) Louis Vivin was born in 1861. The work of the young Vivin is mostly comprised of views of the village where he was born. The drawing is very precise and particularly notable for its fine colours. He evolved to actual naïve painting (he also was a follower of the “Sacré-Cœur” genre) and transgressed the laws of perspective, putting aside variations of light and shade to create paintings that are both synthetic in composition and meticulous in the representation of certain details. Louis Vivin died in 1936.

Still Life with a Portrait Mikhail Larionov, 1920s gouache on paper, 34.3 x 22.4 cm Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg

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Séraphine Louis (1864-1942) Séraphine Louis was born in 1864. She was a painter in the “naïve” style known as “Sacré-Cœur”, and she produced mainly floral compositions which were simultaneously naturalistic and fantastic. Like all “naïve” painters she insisted on reproducing the details of real subjects meticulously but using colours and method which gave them an “apparent” simplicity. This artist always repeated the same decorative motifs in strong colours in a way that translated the dreams and fantasies of the painter. Séraphine Louis died in 1942, unknown to the general public.

Haitian Landscape Jean-Louis Sénatus

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Henri Matisse (1869-1954) Henri Matisse was born in 1869. The work of Matisse communicates his quest for chromatic depth and for balance (combining passion and reason, joy of life and torments of the spirit). He assimilated and combined lessons from the Impressionists and from Cézanne and the neoImpressionists to achieve a particular form of brushstroke and the plastic quality of paint layering, as seen in Tournesols dans un vase (Sunflowers in a Vase, c. 1898, The Hermitage Museum, Saint-Petersburg).

Victory of the Panther on the Horse Henri Rousseau oil on canvas, 46 x 38 cm Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

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Like his other paintings, his flowers are drawn by colour which gives them their strength, and this is reinforced by the violence of contrasts. His great freedom of expression is organised around colour. In his own words: “An avalanche of colour remains without strength. Colour only reaches its full expression when it is organised and when it corresponds to the intensity of the artist’s emotion”. Matisse died in Nice, France, in 1954.

Bunch of Flowers Séraphine Louis oil on canvas, 120 x 89.5 cm Museum Charlotte Zander, Bönnigheim Castle

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André Bauchant (1873-1958) André Bauchant was born in Château-Renault, France, in 1873. He was from a farming family, growing flowers himself. Bauchant’s paintings are in pale colours with thorough detailing and the compositions are wellcentred (despite the absence of perspective). They are fairly typical of the freshness and spontaneity found in the “naïve” style “SacréCœur” paintings. Later his love of nature expressed itself in paintings of landscapes and flowers in much brighter colours. He died in 1958 in Montoire.

Allegory Louis Vivin oil on canvas, 91.5 x 76 cm Museum Charlotte Zander, Bönnigheim Castle

220

Henri Manguin (1874-1949) Henri Manguin was born in Paris, France, in 1874. He was admitted to the School of Fine Arts in 1894 where he was the pupil of Gustave Moreau. In his work which is typical of the “fauve” movement, the traditional rules of composition are overruled so as to use colour subjectively which shapes the drawing and is, in consequence, very expressive. But Mangin produced calmer work, which was more balanced and more traditional than the other “fauves”.

Mother and Child with a Bunch of Flowers André Bauchant, 1922 oil on canvas, 72.3 x 58.5 cm Museum Charlotte Zander, Bönnigheim Castle

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He was always looking for harmony and lighter colours and to stay closer to sensitive reality. Henri Manguin died in 1949 in SaintTropez, France.

Raoul Dufy (1877-1953) Raoul Dufy was born in the Havre, France in 1877. He was very influenced by the “Fauve” movement at the beginning of his career. He met Othon Friesz at the Havre School of Fine Arts. Flowers were one of Dufy’s favourite subjects.

Bunch of Flowers in a Landscape André Bauchant, 1926 oil on canvas, 100 x 67 cm Museum Charlotte Zander, Bönnigheim Castle

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Dufy would keep simplicity, subject definition and a taste for bright colours from his “Fauve” movement beginnings. Later shapes would become more geometric and the space would become more structured and thus resemble Cubist research. The artist would find his own style quickly, however, in which he would combine a flexibility of drawing with bright colours, but on the canvas these two elements do not coincide exactly. Raoul Dufy died in 1953.

Bouquet Séraphine Louis, c.1927-1928 oil on canvas, 117 x 89 cm Museum Charlotte Zander, Bönnigheim Castle

226

Othon Friesz (1879-1949) Othon Friesz was born in 1879. He took courses at the Havre School of Fine Arts where he became friends with Raoul Dufy. Friesz produced, though not exclusively, a great number of paintings of flowers. At the beginning of his career Friesz was closely involved in the “Fauve” movement in which the orchestration of pure colour plays the most important role, and then he evolved towards something more structured, probably inspired by Cézanne.

Love and Flowers André Bauchant, 1929 oil on canvas, 174 x 109 cm Museum Charlotte Zander, Bönnigheim Castle

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His palette became more muted (he used mainly ochres, browns, greens and blues), the lines are rigid and the shapes were outlined thickly. His paintings are based on the direct observation of what is real to which he adds the necessary modifications for expressing personal feelings. Othon Friesz died in Paris in 1949.

The Bleeding Roses Salvador Dalí, 1930 oil on canvas, 75 x 64 cm Private collection, Geneva

230

Mikhail Larionov (1881-1964) Mikhail Larionov was born in 1881 in Tiraspol, Russia. From childhood he painted the nature he saw in his large garden. From the beginning of the 20th century Larionov developed in his flower painting an original and “poetic” type of Impressionism characterised by a more synthetic effect and research into the large plastic form.

Still Life with Butterflies and Flowers Louis Vivin oil on canvas, 61 x 50 cm Museum Charlotte Zander, Bönnigheim Castle

232

Larionov’s very particular method can be seen in his depictions of flowers. His innate sense of colour reveals harmonious combinations which are lively, intense, contrasting and complementary. His quick, nervous brush strokes depict the subject in a light and authentic way. For this artist the chromatic scale would progressively become a whole separate means of expression. In his depictions of flowers Larionov wished to capture the ephemeral mix of colour and reproduce in its variations the vagaries of nature.

Flowers Onisim Babici oil on canvas, 40 x 45 cm Private collection

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The typical luminous quality of his canvases, like in Le Rosier (The Rose Bush) for example, is not due to colour effects but to the colours themselves and to the pictorial organisation of the painting. After 1904, his painting adhered more to the “Fauve” movement, it was less spontaneous and the colour was purer and more lively. After a brilliant career, Mikhail Larionov died in Fontenay-aux-Roses, France, in 1964.

The Lilies Constantin Stanica oil on canvas, 45 x 40 cm Private collection

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Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Pablo Picasso was born in 1881 in Malaga, Spain and was indisputably one of the greatest painters of the 20th century. Although he did not execute many paintings of flowers during his long career as an artist, his depictions of flowers allowed Picasso to materialise a more tactile space, one of the research principles of cubism.

Apple Blossom Nicolae Grigorescu oil on canvas, 54 x 66 cm Art Museum, Constanta

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This new space was no longer that of the Renaissance, which was optical and illusory, but much more tactile, producing its paintings of flowers by composition, by chromatic tones and by brush strokes reminiscent of Cézanne. Gradually the diverse forms create a sensation of mystery or objectivity. Where there are enlarged and simplified details, or preconceived disproportion, or faded colour contrasts we have the impression that these could be artificial flowers.

Hip Rose Flowers Nicolae Grigorescu oil on wood, 39.1 x 25 cm Nicolae Grigorescu Memorial Museum, Campina

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The paintings of flowers also demonstrate Picasso’s passion for the work of Douanier Rousseau with its exotic and sinister mystery and its pure pictorial quality. The sombre presentation especially showcases the value and importance of the chosen motif. Pablo Picasso died in 1973, having been the instigator of revolutions of image in the 20th century.

Pansies Nicolae Grigorescu oil on canvas, 36 x 40 cm Art Museum, Cluj

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Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) Salvador Dalí was born in Figueras, Spain in 1904. His desire for unconscious art began after attending a passionate lecture given by Freud. Dalí’s art was Surrealist and at the same time it stemmed from what he himself named his “critical paranoia” and would lead to his own particular usage of vocabulary. His only painting depicting flowers is called Les Roses sanglantes (Bleeding Roses, 1930, Geneva) and is just an additional example of Dalí’s aversion to objects and his taste for transforming the primary function of the objects shown.

Apple Blossom Nicolae Grigorescu oil on canvas Private collection

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The red rose, which is usually a symbol of love and passion is transformed here into an image which more closely resembles a blood stain (all the more so as it is depicted in the centre of a young woman’s belly, as if she had just been stabbed) than an accessory to seduction. This flower seems to merely be an element between disgust and sexuality and between death and eroticism, which allows the liberation of deep-seated emotions. It is painted in a realistic vein using strong and irrational images. Salvador Dalí died in 1989.

Roses Nicolae Grigorescu oil on canvas

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Index A A Bunch of Wild Flowers

141

A Negro Attacked by a Panther

171

A Spray in a Jug

163

Allegory

221

An Ode to Flowers

161

Apple Blossom

239

Apple Blossom

245

B Basket of Flowers and Fruits

13

Bouquet

227

Bouquet (Two-Handled Vase)

151

Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase

37

Bouquet of Flowers in a White Vase

165

Bouquet of Flowers on the Veranda

201

248

Bunch of Flowers

219

Bunch of Flowers and Fruits on an Entablature

195

Bunch of Flowers in a Blue Vase

79

Bunch of Flowers in a Grey Jug

159

Bunch of Flowers in a Landscape

225

Bunch of Flowers on a Marble Table Bunch of Flowers with Self-Portrait

29 157

Basket of Flowers and Fruits with a Goldfinch on an Earthenware Jar

17

Bunch of Sunflowers

89

C Camille Monet at the Window

71

Chrysanthemums in a Bronze Ballot Box

61

Corner of the Garden at Montgeron

85

Corner of the Workshop

187

249

F Flowers

139

Flowers

191

Flowers

207

Flowers

235

Flowers and Fruits

49

Flowers and Fruits on a Marble Table

19

Flowers in a Bronze Vase

27

Flowers in a China Vase

23

Flowers in a Greek Vase

21

Flowers in a Japanese Vase

35

Flowers in a little Delft Vase

77

Flowers in a Vase

45

Flowers in a Vase

55

Flowers in a Vase

43

Flowers in a Vase with Bird

25

Flowers in an Earthenware Vase Flowers in an Eastern Vase

101 93

Flowers on Curbstone of a Well

125

Fruits, Flowers and the Wall Painting “The Dance”

167

250

G Garden in Blossom

47

Garden in the Rue Cortot, Montmartre

83

Girl with Tulips (Portrait of Jeanne Vaderin)

173

Giroflées in a Vase

193

Goldfish

183

H Haitian Landscape

215

Hip Rose Flowers

241

Homage to the Hortense Queen

39

L Lady in the Garden Sainte-Adresse (Jeanne Marguerite Lecadre in the Garden)

51

Lilac in a Glass with Three Feet

59

Lilacs in a Vase

63

Lilacs in Dull Weather

67

Lilacs in the Sun

73

Love and Flowers

229

251

M Madam Roulin Rocking the Cradle (La Berceuse) Monet’s Garden in Vétheuil Mother and Child with a Bunch of Flowers

109 99 223

P Pale Blue Vase with Flowers on a Dark Blue Tablecloth

199

Pansies

243

Peonies in a Pot out of Glass

197

Pink Water Lilies

129

Pond with Water Lilies

127

Poppies and Butterflies

119

Poppies at Argenteuil

75

Poppy Field

117

R Republican Flowers

31

Romanian Painting

209

Rose and Volubilis

65

252

Roses

115

Roses

247

Roses and Butterflies

81

Roses and Lilacs in a Ground Pot

97

Roses in a Blue Vase

15

Roses in a Crystal Vase

41

Roses in a Pitcher Roses in a Vase on Red Drapery

185 95

S Seville Still Life

177

Spanish Still Life

179

Still Life Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers

105

Still Life with a Portrait

213

Still Life with a Statuette of Buddha

169

Still Life with Butterflies and Flowers

233

Still Life with Grapefruits

145

Still Life Pink Roses in a Vase

121

Still life Vase with Twelve Sunflowers

111

253

Study of Flowers

137

Sunflowers

143

Sunflowers in a Vase

107

T Te avae no Maria, The Month of Mary (or Woman Carrying Flowers)

133

Te Tiare Farani (The Flowers of France)

123

The Bleeding Roses

231

The Graces Adorning Nature The Lilies

11 237

The Meal of the Shepherd

69

The Pond with Water Lilies

211

The Poppy Field, near Giverny

103

The Poppy Field near Vétheuil

87

The Virgin in a Garland of Flowers

9

Trees in the Garden of Saint-Paul Hospice

113

Tropaeolum and the Mural Painting “The Dance”

189

Tulips and Daisies

175

Tulips, Hydrangeas and various Flowers in a Vase 254

33

V Vase of Asters

91

Vase of Camellias

57

Vase of Sunflowers

131

Vase with Iris

181

Victory of the Panther on the Horse

217

W Water Lilies

149

Water Lilies

153

Water Lilies

155

Water Lilies

203

Water Lilies

205

Water Lilies, Water Landscape, Clouds

147

White Bubble White Water Lilies

53 135

255