Still Life with Summer Flowers

Birger Sanzen's unique artistic style, with a focus on color and design, is evident in this bold painting titled Still Life with Summer Flowers. Painted circa 1930, the work is accompanied by a hand-carved artist frame. Sandzen "understood the spirit, structure, and substance of landscape forms but seldom indulged in the moods of nature, stressing rather the more abstract elements of composition, color, and texture. His point of view was expressed in 1927: 'All color in nature is stronger than anything one can possibly have on the palette. For instance, the white of the moon-beam or the vividness of the newly opened flower. There can be no danger of exaggerating nature's color.'" (as quoted in E. Lindquist, Birger Sandzen: An Illustrated Biography, Lawrence, Kansas, 1993, p.69)