''Vase with Poppies'' is an 1886 oil painting created in

Paris, France Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

by Post-Impressionist Dutch artist

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

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. 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." To his sister, Wil, van Gogh advised her to cultivate her own garden, like

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—es ...

's Candide, to find joy and meaning in life. After he left Paris and settled in

Arles Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...

, van Gogh painted his second group of ''

Sunflowers ''Helianthus'' () is a genus comprising about 70 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae commonly known as sunflowers. Except for three South American species, the species of ''Helianthus'' are native to N ...

'' in 1888 and 1889. His paintings of sunflowers in vases are among his most well known paintings.

Flowers delivered to Van Gogh in Paris

In Paris friends and acquaintances sent bouquets of flowers weekly for his still life paintings. 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.

Inspection and analysis

The painting, which was donated by Anne Parrish Titzell in 1957 to the permanent collection of the

Wadsworth Atheneum The Wadsworth Atheneum is an art museum in Hartford, Connecticut. The Wadsworth is noted for its collections of European Baroque art, ancient Egyptian and Classical bronzes, French and American Impressionist paintings, Hudson River School lands ...

, was called into question by art historian Walter Feilchenfeldt in 1990 as to its authenticity. It was declared genuine by the

Van Gogh Museum The Van Gogh Museum () is a Dutch art museum dedicated to the works of Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries in the Museum Square in Amsterdam South, close to the Stedelijk Museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Concertgebouw. The museum opene ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

, 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. An x-ray image of the painting shows the outline of the portrait of a man underneath the flower painting.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

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vase with Red Poppies Paintings by Vincent van Gogh 1886 paintings Paintings of Paris by Vincent van Gogh Still life paintings by Vincent van Gogh Paintings in the Wadsworth Atheneum Flower paintings