Vase with Poppies

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Vase with Poppies (F279)
Van Gogh - Vase mit rotem Klatschmohn.jpeg
Artist Vincent van Gogh
Year1886
Catalogue
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions56.0 cm× 46.5 cm(22.0 in× 18.3 in)
Location Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut

Vase with Poppies is an 1886 oil painting created in Paris, France by Post-Impressionist Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. [1]

Contents

Flowers as a subject

Flowers were the subject of many of van Gogh's paintings in Paris, and one of his many interests due in great part to his regard for flowers. [2] As he said to his brothers Theo Van Gogh and Cor Van Gogh, "You will see that by making a habit of looking at Japanese pictures you will come to love to make up bouquets and do things with flowers all the more." [3] To his sister, Wil, van Gogh advised her to cultivate her own garden, like Voltaire's Candide, to find joy and meaning in life. [3] After he left Paris and settled in Arles, van Gogh painted his second group of Sunflowers in 1888 and 1889. His paintings of sunflowers in vases are among his most well known paintings. [4]

Flowers delivered to Van Gogh in Paris

In Paris friends and acquaintances sent bouquets of flowers weekly for his still life paintings. [2] He also purchased bouquets inexpensively, choosing flowers in a variety of colors for his paintings. In a letter to his sister Wil he wrote, "Last year I painted almost nothing but flowers so I could get used to colors other than grey - pink, soft or bright green, light blue, violet, yellow, glorious red." That was an exaggeration; during his time in Paris he painted 230 paintings, about 30 of which were flowers. Yet, the comment demonstrates his interest in painting flowers as a subject and to further develop his appreciation and understanding of color. [3]

Inspection and analysis

The Wadsworth also owns a self-portrait by Van Gogh Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait, c. 1887, oil on canvas, 15 3/4 by 13 3/8 inches. Wadsworth Athenaeum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut.jpg
The Wadsworth also owns a self-portrait by Van Gogh

The painting, which was donated by Anne Parrish Titzell in 1957 to the permanent collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum, was called into question by art historian Walter Feilchenfeldt in 1990 as to its authenticity. It was declared genuine by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, after having been sent there for inspection by the Wadsworth to determine if it was a work by the hand of the artist or an impostor. [5] An x-ray image of the painting showed the outline of the portrait of a man underneath the flower painting, and the museum declared the work consistent with other paintings Van Gogh created upon moving from Antwerp that year. [6] [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Sunflowers</i> (Van Gogh series) Series of paintings by Vincent van Gogh

Sunflowers is the title of two series of still life paintings by the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. The first series, executed in Paris in 1887, depicts the flowers lying on the ground, while the second set, made a year later in Arles, shows a bouquet of sunflowers in a vase. In the artist's mind, both sets were linked by the name of his friend Paul Gauguin, who acquired two of the Paris versions. About eight months later, Van Gogh hoped to welcome and impress Gauguin again with Sunflowers, now part of the painted Décoration for the Yellow House that he prepared for the guestroom of his home in Arles, where Gauguin was supposed to stay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Copies by Vincent van Gogh</span> Series of paintings by Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh made many copies of other people's work between 1887 and early 1890, which can be considered appropriation art. While at Saint-Paul asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France, where Van Gogh admitted himself, he strived to have subjects during the cold winter months. Seeking to be reinvigorated artistically, Van Gogh did more than 30 copies of works by some of his favorite artists. About twenty-one of the works were copies after, or inspired by, Jean-François Millet. Rather than replicate, Van Gogh sought to translate the subjects and composition through his perspective, color, and technique. Spiritual meaning and emotional comfort were expressed through symbolism and color. His brother Theo van Gogh would call the pieces in the series some of his best work.

<i>Flowering Orchards</i> Series of paintings by Vincent van Gogh

Flowering Orchards is a series of paintings which Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh executed in Arles, in southern France in the spring of 1888. Van Gogh arrived in Arles in February 1888 in a snowstorm; within two weeks the weather changed and the fruit trees were in blossom. Appreciating the symbolism of rebirth, Van Gogh worked with optimism and zeal on about fourteen paintings of flowering trees in the early spring. He also made paintings of flowering trees in Saint-Rémy the following year, in 1889.

<i>Langlois Bridge at Arles</i> Series of paintings by Vincent van Gogh

The Langlois Bridge at Arles is the subject of four oil paintings, one watercolor and four drawings by Vincent van Gogh. The works, made in 1888 when van Gogh lived in Arles, in southern France, represent a melding of formal and creative aspects. Van Gogh used a perspective frame that he built and used in The Hague to create precise lines and angles when portraying perspective.

<i>Bulb Fields</i> Painting by Vincent van Gogh

Bulb Fields, also known as Flower Beds in Holland, is an oil painting created by Vincent van Gogh in early 1883. It was donated to the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC in 1983.

<i>Poppy Flowers</i> Painting by Vincent van Gogh

Poppy Flowers is a painting by Vincent van Gogh with an estimated value of US$55 million which was stolen from Cairo's Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum twice; first in 1977, then again in August 2010 and has yet to be found.

<i>Still Life: Vase with Pink Roses</i> 1890 painting by Vincent van Gogh

Still Life: Vase with Pink Roses was painted in 1890 by Vincent van Gogh in Saint-Rémy. At the time the work was painted Van Gogh was readying himself to leave the Saint-Rémy asylum for the quiet town of Auvers-sur-Oise outside of Paris. This and the similarly-dated Pink Roses reflect the optimism Van Gogh felt at that time about his future, both in his choice of flowers as a subject and the colors used. The painting is owned by the National Gallery of Art of Washington, D.C.

<i>Olive Trees</i> (Van Gogh series) Painting series by Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh painted at least 15 paintings of olive trees, mostly in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in 1889. At his own request, he lived at an asylum there from May 1889 through May 1890 painting the gardens of the asylum and, when he had permission to venture outside its walls, nearby olive trees, cypresses and wheat fields.

Wheat Fields is a series of dozens of paintings by Dutch Post-Impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh, borne out of his religious studies and sermons, connection to nature, appreciation of manual laborers and desire to provide a means of offering comfort to others. The wheat field works demonstrate his progression as an artist from the drab Wheat Sheaves made in 1885 in the Netherlands to the colorful and dramatic 1888–1890 paintings from Arles, Saint-Rémy and Auvers-sur-Oise in rural France.

<i>Butterflies</i> (Van Gogh series) 1889–90 series of paintings by Vincent van Gogh

Butterflies is a series of paintings made by Vincent van Gogh in 1889 and 1890. Van Gogh made at least four paintings of butterflies and one of a moth. The metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a butterfly was symbolic to Van Gogh of men and women's capability for transformation.

<i>Almond Blossoms</i> 1888–1890 paintings by Vincent van Gogh

Almond Blossoms is a group of several paintings made in 1888 and 1890 by Vincent van Gogh in Arles and Saint-Rémy, southern France of blossoming almond trees. Flowering trees were special to van Gogh. They represented awakening and hope. He enjoyed them aesthetically and found joy in painting flowering trees. The works reflect the influence of Impressionism, Divisionism, and Japanese woodcuts. Almond Blossom was made to celebrate the birth of his nephew and namesake, son of his brother Theo and sister-in-law Jo.

<i>Doctor Gachets Garden in Auvers</i> Painting by Vincent van Gogh

Dr. Gachet's Garden in Auvers and Marguerite Gachet in the Garden were both painted in 1890 by Vincent van Gogh in the gardens of his homeopathic physician, Dr. Paul Gachet. Both paintings reside at the Musée d'Orsay.

<i>Saint-Paul Asylum, Saint-Rémy</i> (Van Gogh series) Series of paintings by Vincent van Gogh

Saint-Paul Asylum, Saint-Rémy is a collection of paintings that Vincent van Gogh made when he was a self-admitted patient at the Saint-Paul asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, since renamed the Clinique Van Gogh, from May 1889 until May 1890. During much of his stay there he was confined to the grounds of the asylum, and he made paintings of the garden, the enclosed wheat field that he could see outside his room and a few portraits of individuals at the asylum. During his stay at Saint-Paul asylum, Van Gogh experienced periods of illness when he could not paint. When he was able to resume, painting provided solace and meaning for him. Nature seemed especially meaningful to him, trees, the landscape, even caterpillars as representative of the opportunity for transformation and budding flowers symbolizing the cycle of life. One of the more recognizable works of this period is The Irises. Works of the interior of the hospital convey the isolation and sadness that he felt. From the window of his cell he saw an enclosed wheat field, the subject of many paintings made from his room. He was able to make but a few portraits while at Saint-Paul.

<i>Hospital in Arles</i> Painting series by Vincent van Gogh

Hospital at Arles is the subject of two paintings that Vincent van Gogh made of the hospital in which he stayed in December 1888 and again in January 1889. The hospital is located in Arles in southern France. One of the paintings is of the central garden between four buildings titled Garden of the Hospital in Arles ; the other painting is of a ward within the hospital titled Ward of the Hospital in Arles. Van Gogh also painted Portrait of Dr. Félix Rey, a portrait of his physician while in the hospital.

<i>Portrait of the Artists Mother</i> (Van Gogh) 1888 painting by Vincent van Gogh

Portrait of Artist's Mother is an 1888 painting by Vincent van Gogh of his mother, Anna Carbentus van Gogh, drawn from a black-and-white photograph. Van Gogh's introduction to art was through his mother, herself an amateur artist. After years of strained relations with family members, Van Gogh excitedly shared some of his works he thought his mother would appreciate most, of flowers and natural settings. In this painting, Van Gogh captures his mother's dignified and proud nature. It was painted at almost the same time, and with a very similar palette of colours and pose as his Self Portrait

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Van Gogh's family in his art</span> Appearances of Vincent van Goghs family in his art

Van Gogh's family in his art refers to works that Vincent van Gogh made for or about Van Gogh family members. In 1881, Vincent drew a portrait of his grandfather, also named Vincent van Gogh, and his sister Wil. While living in Nuenen, Vincent memorialized his father in Still Life with Bible following his death in 1885. There he also made many paintings and drawings in 1884 and 1885 of his parents' vicarage, its garden and the church. At the height of his career in Arles he made Portrait of the Artist's Mother, Memory of the Garden at Etten of his mother and sister and Novel Reader, which is thought to be of his sister, Wil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Still life paintings by Vincent van Gogh (Paris)</span>

Still life paintings by Vincent van Gogh (Paris) is the subject of many drawings, sketches and paintings by Vincent van Gogh in 1886 and 1887 after he moved to Montmartre in Paris from the Netherlands. While in Paris, Van Gogh transformed the subjects, color and techniques that he used in creating still life paintings.

<i>Old Vineyard with Peasant Woman</i> 1890 painting by Vincent van Gogh

Old Vineyard with Peasant Woman is a watercolour painting by Vincent van Gogh that he made in May 1890 when he lived in Auvers-sur-Oise, France.

<i>Imperial Fritillaries in a Copper Vase</i> 1887 painting by Vincent van Gogh

Imperial Fritillaries in a Copper Vase is an oil painting on canvas created by the post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh in Paris, 1887. The painting is now part of the collection of the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, France. This work was made at a time of the life of Van Gogh when he first encountered influences from Impressionists and became aware of light and color, implementing it in his paintings. This painting presages some of his most famous subsequent works, and stands out from other still lifes because of the implementation of mixed techniques and complementary colors.

<i>Poppy Field</i> 1890 painting by Vincent van Gogh

Poppy Field is an 1890 painting by the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh, painted around a month before his death during his stay in Auvers-sur-Oise, France. It has been described as "a composition that verges on the abstract" and shows marked difference from a 1888 painting of the same subject that now is in the Van Gogh Museum, in Amsterdam. Spending many years in Germany, the painting now hangs in the Kunstmuseum, in The Hague.

References

  1. Vincent van Gogh: Vase with Poppies, 1886, Vincent van Gogh.org, retrieved 12 January 2022
  2. 1 2 Mancoff, D (1999). Van Gogh's Flowers. London: Frances Lincoln Limited. p. 32. ISBN   978-0-7112-2908-2.
  3. 1 2 3 Mancoff, D (1999). Van Gogh's Flowers. London: Frances Lincoln Limited. pp. 26, 29. ISBN   978-0-7112-2908-2.
  4. Morton, M; Schmunk, P (2000). The Arts Entwined: Music and Painting in the Nineteenth Century. New York: Garland Publishing. pp. 177–178. ISBN   0-8153-3156-8.
  5. "Disputed Painting Is a Real van Gogh, Researchers Say". The New York Times. Associated Press. 24 March 2019.
  6. Fake no more: poppy painting in US museum is by Van Gogh the rat—and has a surprise under the surface, 22 March 2019 blog by Martin Baily for The Art Newspaper
  7. Katz, Brigit (26 March 2019). "After 30 Years of Doubt, a Painting of Poppies Is Authenticated as a van Gogh". Smithsonian Magazine . Retrieved 29 May 2024.

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