Vincent van Gogh – Vase with Red Poppies

Vase with Red Poppies is the still life Vincent van Gogh painted in Paris in 1886: a dense bouquet of bright red poppies with green stems, buds and seed heads in a pale, decorated vase on a red-brown table, set against a deep blue background. The original, oil on canvas, measures 46.5 x 56 cm and is in the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut. We paint it by hand in oil on canvas, in 16 sizes from 40 x 50 to 135 x 160 cm or to your own measurements, and send you a photograph of the finished painting for approval before dispatch.

Vase with Red Poppies – Vincent van Gogh

What does Vase with Red Poppies show?

A tall, loose bouquet of poppies fills the upper two thirds of the canvas. Most of the flowers are a deep, bright red, a few lean towards orange, and some are opened wide while others are still closed buds. Between them stand dozens of pale green, round seed heads on thin stems, and long green stems fall over the rim of the vase on both sides. A few flowers and buds hang outside the bouquet, as if they were about to drop.

The vase is a pale, almost white cylinder with a loose painted decoration in green and pink. It stands on a table in red-brown tones. Behind the bouquet the background is a deep blue, painted in rounded strokes that are lighter at the upper left and darker towards the right, so the red petals stand out sharply against it.

Why was Vase with Red Poppies once doubted?

Because in 1990 the art historian Walter Feilchenfeldt questioned whether Van Gogh had painted it, according to Wikipedia, and the museum in Hartford later sent it to Amsterdam to be examined.

In April 2019 the Van Gogh Museum announced the attribution with greater certainty. According to the museum, the decisive point was how closely the Hartford still life matches Still Life with Meadow Flowers and Roses in the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo: the same rounded, halo-like blue strokes in the background, poppies mixed from different red pigments, buds and a few wilting flowers hovering around the bouquet, and long, stringy green strokes for the stems. The two are so alike, the museum argues, that if one is by Van Gogh, so is the other; the Otterlo painting was reattributed to him in 2012.

What does Vase with Red Poppies mean?

It is above all an exercise in colour. The Van Gogh Museum describes the flower still lifes he painted after arriving in Paris in the spring of 1886 as exercises in the use of colour and a loose style of painting, and adds that he hoped the vibrant bouquets would do well on the art market. In the museum’s reading, this simple composition of bright red poppies in a vase clearly belongs to that campaign.

The English Wikipedia article on the painting explains that friends sent him bouquets every week in Paris and that he also bought flowers cheaply. To his sister Wil he later wrote that he had painted almost nothing but flowers so he could get used to colours other than grey, naming pink, soft or bright green, light blue, violet, yellow and “glorious red”.

Where does the original hang?

The original is in the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, in the United States. Wikipedia lists it as an oil on canvas of 56.0 x 46.5 cm, painted in Paris in 1886, catalogue numbers F279 and JH1104.

It came to the museum in 1957 as a gift from Anne Parrish Titzell, according to Wikipedia. After the doubts of 1990 the Wadsworth sent it to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam for examination, and the museum found it consistent with the paintings Van Gogh made after moving to Paris from Antwerp in 1886.

Vase with Red Poppies or another Van Gogh flower painting – which should you choose?

This one is the Paris still life of 1886: a compact red bouquet against deep blue, strong in colour, which suits a smaller wall or a room in cool tones.

Sunflowers I turns to sunflowers, the flower subject that Wikipedia counts among his best-known works. Vase with Irises Against a Yellow Background is, as its title says, a bouquet in a vase like this one, but set against yellow. Irises and Bulb Fields show flowers growing outdoors rather than cut flowers in a vase. Choose this one for a strong red on a dark ground, the irises in a vase for a brighter wall, and Irises or Bulb Fields for flowers outdoors.

How is our hand-painted Vase with Red Poppies made?

The painter first draws the vase, the edge of the table and the outline of the bouquet, and checks the proportions against the original. Then comes the blue background in rounded strokes, lighter at the upper left, and the red-brown table, after them the vase with its green and pink decoration, then the stems and the pale seed heads, and last the poppies themselves, from the darkest red to the brightest highlights. Our oil painting reproduction is painted by hand on canvas, with real impasto: the paint goes on thickly, so the brushstrokes stand up from the canvas as they do in the original and catch the light.

On this painting the relief shows most in the petals of the poppies, in the curved strokes of the blue background and in the long strokes of the stems. A print is completely flat; on our painting every brushstroke stands out in real paint.

Every painting is a hand-painted copy made for your order, so no two are quite the same.

Which size for which wall?

Short answer: 40 x 50 or 55 x 66 cm for a kitchen, a hallway or a wall beside the bed, 75 x 90 or 80 x 100 cm above a chest of drawers or a sideboard, and 100 x 120 or 110 x 130 cm above a sofa or on a large wall.

There are 16 sizes: 40 x 50, 55 x 66, 60 x 70, 64 x 80, 70 x 85, 75 x 90, 80 x 100, 85 x 105, 90 x 110, 93 x 115, 100 x 120, 105 x 125, 110 x 130, 120 x 140, 127 x 150 and 135 x 160 cm (width x height). The original is 46.5 cm wide and 56 cm high, so our 55 x 66 cm size keeps its proportions almost exactly at a slightly larger scale, and 93 x 115 cm is roughly twice the size of the original. As an upright still life it also suits a narrow wall between two doors or windows, or a dining room. A painting for the living room should cover about two thirds of the width of the furniture below it.

Hang it with the centre of the canvas about 150 cm above the floor, so the bouquet sits close to eye level. Above a sofa, a bed or a sideboard, leave 20 to 30 cm between the top of the furniture and the bottom of the canvas.

What if I need a custom size or a frame?

If none of the 16 sizes fits your wall, we paint it to measure in any width and height you need. Send us the width and height you want and we will quote you a price and a delivery time. Every painting we make is mounted on a wooden stretcher, ready to hang.

Our 3D app shows each of our frame profiles on this painting, so you can compare gold, silver, black, white and natural wood. The app is for choosing the frame only. To see the painting on your own wall, use our separate room placement service. A gold frame warms the red of the poppies and the red-brown table, while a black or dark wood one repeats the deep blue background and makes the red look stronger.

How does delivery work, and what is the guarantee?

Every painting is made to order in our studio, so allow 15 to 45 days depending on the size you choose. We ship it on its stretcher, carefully packed (and framed, if you chose a frame), across the EU with no customs duty. Before dispatch we send you a photograph of the finished painting to approve, and we correct anything that is not right. Our returns policy applies to every order.

You will find more of Van Gogh’s famous works among all our Vincent van Gogh paintings, and more about the painter in our article on Vincent van Gogh. If it is a present and you are not sure of the size, a wall art voucher lets the recipient choose.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the original Vase with Red Poppies today?

In the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, in the United States. Wikipedia gives it as an oil on canvas of 56.0 x 46.5 cm, painted in Paris in 1886. It came to the museum in 1957 as a gift from Anne Parrish Titzell. The Van Gogh Museum confirmed it as his work in 2019.

When and where did Van Gogh paint Vase with Red Poppies?

In Paris, in 1886. Van Gogh moved there from Antwerp that year, and the Van Gogh Museum places the painting in a group of flower still lifes he made shortly after arriving in the spring of 1886. According to Wikipedia, friends and acquaintances in Paris sent him bouquets every week, and he also bought flowers cheaply for these studies.

Why did Van Gogh paint flowers such as these poppies in Paris?

To learn colour. The Van Gogh Museum calls his Paris flower still lifes exercises in colour and a loose style of painting. To his sister Wil he wrote that he painted almost nothing but flowers to get used to colours other than grey. Wikipedia counts about 30 flower paintings among some 230 from his Paris years.

Is Vase with Red Poppies a genuine Van Gogh?

Yes, according to the Van Gogh Museum, which confirmed the attribution in April 2019 after the art historian Walter Feilchenfeldt had questioned it in 1990. Its researchers found the same handling as in a flower still life in Otterlo that is accepted as his: rounded blue strokes in the background, poppies mixed from several reds and long, stringy green strokes for the stems.

What is hidden under Vase with Red Poppies?

The outline of a portrait. Wikipedia reports that an X-ray of the painting showed the portrait of a man underneath the flowers. It cannot be seen on the surface; it appears only in the X-ray. What you see, and what we paint, are the poppies alone, as Van Gogh left them in 1886 in Paris.

Why is the background of Vase with Red Poppies so dark blue?

Largely for contrast: the deep blue sets off the bright red petals. The Van Gogh Museum describes the background as rounded, halo-like blue strokes, lighter or darker according to the fall of the light. In 1886 he was, in his own words, getting used to colours other than grey; the strong yellow of his sunflowers in vases came later, in Arles in 1888 and 1889.

How big is the original Vase with Red Poppies?

56.0 cm high and 46.5 cm wide, according to Wikipedia: a modest upright format. Our 55 x 66 cm size keeps almost the same proportions at a slightly larger scale, and 93 x 115 cm is roughly twice the size. If you want the bouquet larger still, there are 16 sizes up to 135 x 160 cm, and custom sizes in any proportions your wall needs.

Which size of Vase with Red Poppies suits a living room?

Above a sofa, choose 100 x 120 or 110 x 130 cm, so that the canvas painting holds its own on a large wall and the red bouquet reads clearly from across the room. On a narrower wall, beside a bookcase or above a sideboard, 64 x 80 or 80 x 100 cm works well. For a very high wall, choose our largest size, 135 x 160 cm.

Does your Vase with Red Poppies have the raised brushstrokes of the original?

Yes. We paint it in impasto, building up each brushstroke in thick oil, so the surface is raised like Van Gogh’s original. You see this best in the red petals, where the paint lies heaviest, in the rounded strokes of the blue background and in the long green stems, where the relief catches the light from the side.

• Subject: a bouquet of bright red poppies with buds, seed heads and green stems in a pale decorated vase on a red-brown table, against a deep blue background.
• Original: 1886, Paris, oil on canvas, 46.5 x 56 cm, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford.
• Ours: a Van Gogh reproduction painted by hand in oil on canvas, in 16 sizes from 40 x 50 to 135 x 160 cm or made to measure.
• Worth knowing: our 3D app shows every frame profile on this still life, so you can choose the frame before you order.