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A bouquet of cut flowers in a clear glass vase nearly fills this vertical painting. The vase has straight sides and the rounded bottom is supported by short, round feet. Some of the flowers can be identified as white roses and carnations but other less defined flowers are executed in quick touches of delphinium blue, marigold orange, brick red, and butter yellow. Green stalks and leaves are interspersed throughout, and green stems fill the vase. Some of the flowers and vegetation are thickly painted, and these contrast with other areas where the paint is more thinly applied. The bouquet is set against a pale gray background, and the vase casts a subtle blue shadow to our right. The artist signed the painting in gray letters at the lower right: “Manet.”

Edouard Manet

Flowers in a Crystal Vase, c. 1882

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 32.7 x 24.5 cm (12 7/8 x 9 5/8 in.)

framed: 52.7 x 44.8 x 8.3 cm (20 3/4 x 17 5/8 x 3 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection

Accession Number

1970.17.37

Artists / Makers

Edouard Manet (artist) French, 1832 - 1883

Image Use

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Inscription

lower right: Manet

Provenance

Offered by the artist as a New Year's gift to "Mme X." [1] M and Mme Jules Féral, Paris, by 1932 until at least 1938.[2] Possibly (Galerie Charpentier, Paris) in 1951. [3] Capt. Edward H. Molyneux [1891-1974], Paris, by 1952;[4] sold 15 August 1955 to Ailsa Mellon Bruce [1901-1969], New York; bequest 1970 to NGA.

[1]According to Paul Jamot and Georges Wildenstein, Manet, Paris, 1932, no. 508.

[2]Lent by Féral to exhibitions in London in 1932 and Amsterdam in 1938. Eugène and Jules Féral [died c. 1949] acted as experts at sales at Hôtel Drout and elsewhere, the former betweeen c. 1876-1901 and the latter in the 1920s.

[3] A 1949 sale of objects from Jules Féral's collection held at the Galerie Charpentier did not include the NGA picture. However the picture was included in an 1951 exhibition held at Charpentier, with no owner listed, and was probably sold to Charpentier by Mme Féral by that time.

[4]Lent by Molyneux to the National Gallery of Art in 1952.

Associated Names

Bruce, Ailsa Mellon, Mrs.
Féral, Jules
Galerie Charpentier
Molyneux, Edward H., Captain

Exhibition History

1932: Exhibition of French Art 1200-1900, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1932, no. 561

1932: Manet, Musée de L'Orangerie, Paris, 1932, no. 87a

1933: Het Stilleven, Kunsthandel J. Goudstikker, Amsterdam, 1933, no. 206, repro.

1933: Tentoonstelling van 115 Stillevens 1480-1933, Museum Boymans, Rotterdam, 1933, no. 60.

1938: Honderd Jaar Fransche Kunst, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1938, no. 162

1951: Natures mortes françaises, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 1951, no. 105, repro.

1952: French Paintings from the Molyneux Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1952, unnumbered checklist.

1961: French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century from the Collection of Mrs. Mellon Bruce, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1961, no. 24, repro

1966: French Paintings from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Mrs. Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1966, no. 45, repro

1986: Capolavori Impressionisti dei Musei Americani, Museo e Gallerie Nazionali di Capodimonte, Naples; Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan, 1986-1987, no. 26, repro.

1989: Impressionisti della National Gallery of Art di Washington, Ala Napoleonica e Museo Correr, Venice; Palazzo Reale, Milan, 1989, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

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

1999: Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1999, no. 18, repro.

2000: Cézanne-Manet-Schuch. Drei Wege zur autonomen Kunst [Cézanne-Manet-Schuch. Three Paths toward Autonomous Art], Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte der Stadt Dortmund, 2000, no. 17, repro.

2000: Manet: The Still-Life Paintings, Musée d'Orsay, Paris; The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, 2000-2001, pl. 80.

2001: Impressionist Still Life, The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2001-2002, pl. 64.

2003: Manet en el Prado, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 2003-2004, no. 110, repro.

2004: Andy Warhol Museum 10th Anniversary, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, 2004, no cat.

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. 6, repro.

2013: Letzte Bilder: Von Manet bis Kippenberger [Final Works. From Manet to Kippenberger], Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, 2013, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

2014: Working among Flowers: Floral Still Life in the 19th Century, Dallas Museum of Art; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond; Denver Art Museum, 2014-2015.

Bibliography

1928: Ausstellung Edouard Manet, Galerie Matthiesen, Berlin, 1928, no. 84 [in catalogue but according to Wildenstein 1932, no exhibited].

1931: Tabarant, Adolphe. Manet: histoire catalographique. Paris, 1931: no. 406.

1932: Jamot, Paul, and Georges Wildenstein. Manet. Paris, 1932: no. 508, repro.

1938: Rey, Robert. Manet. New York and Paris, 1938:163, no. 153.

1947: Tabarant, Adolphe. Manet et ses oeuvres. Paris, 1947:462, no. 437

1970: Orienti, Sandra. The Complete Paintings of Manet. London, 1970:411H, repro.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 212, repro.

1975: Rouart, Denis and Daniel Wildenstein. Edouard Manet, catalogue raisonné 2 vols. Lausanne and Paris, 1975:I:no. 420.

1978: Small French Paintings from the Bequest of Ailsa Mellon Bruce. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978: 22, repro. (continuing exhibition beginning in 1978).

1980: Kelder, Diane. The Great Book of French Impressionism. New York, 1980: 436, repro.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 453, no. 656, color repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 246, repro.

1986: Gordon, Robert and Andrew Forge. The Last Flowers of Manet. New York, 1986:15, repro.

1997: Kelder, Diane. The Great Book of French Impressionism, 1997, no. 98, repro.

1997: Southgate, M. Therese. The Art of JAMA: One Hundred Covers and Essays from The Journal of the American Medical Association. St. Louis, 1997: 86-87, 204, color repro.

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