''Vase with Poppies'' is an 1886 oil painting created in
Paris, France
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
by
Post-Impressionist
Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction a ...
Dutch artist
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...
.
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), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...
's
Candide
( , ) is a French satire written by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment, first published in 1759. The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled ''Candide: or, All for the Best'' (1759); ''Candide: or, The ...
, to find joy and meaning in life.
After he left Paris and settled in
Arles
Arles ( , , ; ; Classical ) is a coastal city and Communes of France, commune in the South of France, a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône Departments of France, department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Reg ...
, 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.
Flowers delivered to Van Gogh in Paris
In Paris friends and acquaintances sent bouquets of flowers weekly for his
still life
A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, human-m ...
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 Impressionism, Impressionist paintings, Hudson Riv ...
, 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 opened o ...
in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
, 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 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
Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...
that year.
See also
*
List of works by Vincent van Gogh
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
Paintings of Montmartre
Oil on canvas paintings
Poppies