Flowers in a Vase

c. 1866

Auguste Renoir

Artist, French, 1841 - 1919

A loose arrangement of colorful wildflowers bursting out of a red clay jug sits near the back left corner of a tabletop and fills the top two-thirds of this vertical still life painting. Soft light from the lower left illuminates tight clusters of silvery gray and white blooms up along the center, which are surrounded by delicate butter and lemon-yellow flowers on tall stems covered with pine and pea-green leaves. Brilliant poppy-red and cornflower-blue flowers punctuate the upper right and lower left of the arrangement. Small flowers in the lower right are painted with short daubs of navy blue dotted around green stems. One white-petaled daisy unfurls near the jug's short, rounded handle, which faces us. Thin stems covered with small leaves in shades of pine, emerald, and spring green fill out the arrangement. The table is loosely painted with thin patches of apple green layered over oatmeal and dark brown. The background is mottled in sage green and steel gray.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.
Not on view See artworks now on view

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

  • Dimensions

    overall: 81.3 x 65.1 cm (32 x 25 5/8 in.)
    framed: 98.4 x 83.2 x 8.3 cm (38 3/4 x 32 3/4 x 3 1/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1983.1.32

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Charles Le Coeur [1830-1906]; sold 14 May 1924 by the Le Coeur family to (Hector Brame, Paris); sold 2 December 1924 to Comte de Rivaud; his heir, Mrs. Gambert de Loche; sold 10 April 1958 to (Hector Brame, Paris);[1] sold July 1958 to Mr. Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia; gift 1983 to NGA.
[1] See invoice dated 30 July 1958 from Hector Brame and letter from Philippe Brame dated 8 June 1999, both in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1986

  • Gifts to the Nation: Selected Acquisitions from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1986, unnumbered checklist, repro.

1999

  • Around Impressionism: French Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1999, no cat.

  • Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1999, no. 31, repro.

2010

  • Impressionist Gardens, National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh; Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, 2010-2011, no. 15, repro.

  • Renoir: Tradition and Innovation, The National Art Center, Tokyo; The National Museum of Art, Osaka, 2010, no. 50, repro.

2011

  • In the Presence of Things: Four Centuries of European Still Life Painting, Part Two: 19th-20th Centuries (1840-1955), Fundaçäo Calouste Gulbenkian, Temporary Exhibitions Gallery, Lisbon, 2011-2012, no. 11, repro.

Bibliography

1924

  • Dumas, Paul. "Quinz Tableaux inédits de Renoir." La Renaissance de l'art français et des industries de Luxe 7, no. 7 (July 1924): 365, repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 348, repro.

1991

  • Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 277, 280, color repro.

1998

  • Whelan, Richard. Impressionist Flowers: Art of the Bouquet. Cobb, California, 1998.

2007

  • Dauberville, Guy-Patrice, and Michel Dauberville. Renoir: Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles. 5 vols. Paris, 2007: 1:no. 22.

Wikidata ID

Q20188678

You may be interested in

Loading Results