Description
| Title: | Flowers in a Vase |
| Other titles: | Flowers in a Vase (the museum’s title) |
| Painter: | Henri Rousseau |
| Year painted: | 1909 |
| Original size: | 45.4 cm x 32.7 cm (height x width); with frame 67.31 x 54.77 cm |
| Original technique: | oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | naive art (primitivism) |
| Held at: | Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo, USA (inv. RCA1939:17) |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted oil on canvas, ten sizes or a size made to order |
Flowers in a Vase is a painting by Henri Rousseau, oil on canvas, signed and dated 1909 by the painter at the lower left, and held by the Buffalo AKG Art Museum in Buffalo under inventory number RCA1939:17. The original is 45.4 cm high and 32.7 cm wide. What you see: a bouquet of peonies, tulips, daisies and mimosa in a tall fluted glass vase on an orange table against a green wall, with a sprig of ivy lying in front.
Flowers in a Vase
What is on the canvas?
The canvas is upright. The background is a grey-green wall of vertical boards, and an orange table fills the lower third. On it stands a tall fluted glass vase, through whose upper part dark reddish-brown stems show. The bouquet is fanned out and painted strictly from the front: below, two large pink peonies at the left and two pale pink ones at the right; above them white daisies with yellow centres, a red-and-yellow striped tulip and a red one; at the top the yellow balls of mimosa, small blue flowers, a large dark violet bloom at the right and white star-shaped flowers on both sides. Feathery green leaves spread between them. In front of the vase a sprig of ivy lies across the table. The signature and date, Henri Rousseau 1909, are at the lower left.
Which flowers are in the bouquet?
The museum writes that every variety in the bouquet is recognisable, and lists them: peonies, tulips, daisies, mimosas, acacias and forget-me-nots. Each flower keeps its own clear outline and its own colour, and none is lost in the shadow of another. The museum also points to the strict front-facing view, the clear, solid-coloured forms and the restricted, flattened space, which it describes as characteristic of folk or so-called primitive art, and to the smooth, even brushwork, which the painter interrupts here and there to let the white ground show through. Another flower piece by Rousseau is Bouquet of Flowers.
Who owned the painting before the museum?
The museum’s record traces its path. In 1911 it was in the collection of Count Sandor, who may have bought it at a small exhibition in Paris; from him it passed to his niece, Countess Sandor. In 1939 it was bought by Arthur Tooth and Sons in London, the same year by M. Knoedler and Company, and on 12 December 1939 by the Albright Art Gallery in Buffalo, through its Room of Contemporary Art Fund. According to the museum, still life, and flowers above all, was not the painter’s main work but a pleasant diversion from more ambitious, academic subjects. Another figure holding a flower is The Child with the Doll.
How large is the original, and what does that mean on a wall?
The original is 45.4 cm high and 32.7 cm wide, 67.31 x 54.77 cm with its frame. Ten sizes are available: 54 x 72, 59 x 81, 65 x 90, 70 x 100, 80 x 110, 90 x 120, 100 x 140, 130 x 180, 150 x 210 and 175 x 250 cm. Even the smallest is larger than the original, so every size enlarges the bouquet; 65 x 90 and 130 x 180 cm keep the original’s proportion most exactly. At the larger sizes the peonies grow bigger than a hand, and the painting becomes a presence on the wall above a chest of drawers or a table. Custom sizes are ordered through the made-to-order painting page. Another small canvas by the same painter is Woman with Basket of Eggs.
How is a hand-painted reproduction made?
We paint your canvas painting by hand in oils after you order it, at the size you choose. From a high-resolution image of the original, the painter lays in the wall and the table first, then the vase, then the flowers, each with its own outline, and last the sprig of ivy. A hand-painted canvas always differs slightly from the next, and that difference is exactly what a print cannot give you. It is stretched on a wooden frame, ready to hang. A small portrait by the same painter is Portrait of the Artist with a Lamp, and the whole collection is in the Henri Rousseau gallery.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original kept?
At the Buffalo AKG Art Museum in Buffalo, New York, inventory number RCA1939:17.
When was it painted?
In 1909: Rousseau signed and dated it at the lower left, Henri Rousseau 1909.
Why did Rousseau paint flowers?
According to the museum’s record, still life, and flowers above all, offered him a pleasant diversion from more ambitious, academic subjects.
Is this a print?
No. It is painted by hand in oils, and the layers of paint can be seen and felt.
Is the painting suitable as a gift?
Very: a bouquet that never wilts, for a birthday, an anniversary or a thank-you. If you would rather the recipient chose, there is a gift voucher.
- Subject: a bouquet of peonies, tulips, daisies and mimosa in a fluted glass vase on an orange table, a sprig of ivy in front.
- Original: oil on canvas, 45.4 x 32.7 cm (height x width), Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo, inv. RCA1939:17; 1909.
- Our version: hand-painted oil, ten sizes from 54 x 72 to 175 x 250 cm, or a size made to order.
- Of note: the museum recognises six varieties in the bouquet: peonies, tulips, daisies, mimosas, acacias and forget-me-nots.
