Jan Frans van Dael – The Tomb of Julie, 1803 Musee National du Chateau de Malmaison
I think about the countless museums I have visited in my life and the number of paintings that have drawn me in. Many of those paintings have been of flowers. In museums around the world, from the Norton Simon to the Metropolitan, from the hieroglyphics in Egypt with lotus blossoms and palm trees, the carnations and tulips of Iznik tiles and ceramics in Istanbul and the delicate wall paintings at Herculaneum and Oplontis, so many memorable visits. I can think of countless examples of floral decoration in cloisonné, micromosaics, porcelains, bas relief, the marquetry of French furniture, and the lacca povera perfected by the Italians.
You marvel at the range of varieties, the colors, their grace, and their fragility. Flower memories, near and far, here are some of my museum flower memories.
Balthasar van der Ast – Still Life with a Basket of Flowers National Museum, Stockholm
Basket of Flowers, 1622, FROM THE COLLECTION OF MRS. PAUL MELLON National Gallery of Art
Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder – Floral Still life 1614, J PAUL GETTY MUSEUM
Bouquet of Flowers, 1620 Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder – Museé du Louvre
Jan Davidsz de Heem – Bouquet in a glass vase 1640 at the Staatliche Museen, Berlin
National gallery of Art, Andrew W. Mellon Fund Vase of Flowers, 1660
Antoine Berjon – Still Life with Flowers, Shells, a Shark’s head, and Petrifications, 1819 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Albrecht Durer. Bouquet of Violets 1501, Albertina Museum Vienna
Tolstoi (1783-1873) – “Bouquet de fleurs avec papillon et oiseau” 1850 Moscou, Galerie Tretïakoff
Hugo Van der Goes – L’Adoration des bergers – Uffizi Museum Florence
Jean Francois Millet Le Bouquet de Marguerites, Louvre then in 1986 assigned to the Musee d’orsay
Edouard Manet- Oeillets et Clématite dans un vase de cristal – Musee D’Orsay
“We must have flowers, always and always…”
– Claude Monet
Text from Charlotte Moss Flowers, Rizzoli April 2021
For more Flowers in art, watch the video below!
And to see some of Charlotte’s own artwork at home, head over to C’est Inspire.
