Lot Essay
Czanne painted still-lifes throughout his career as they offered him a more focused investigation of color, shape, structure, and space than other subject matter. Emphasizing the structure of the natural world over the more fugitive effects of light, Czanne created form and space from a pattern of carefully placed, closely related tones.
Fleurs dans un vase displays a strong sense of artistry, in the complex pictorial arrangement of the flowers and the richness of Czanne's palette. The formal frontality of this painting is characteristic of the artist's early still-lifes. John Rewald notes, "The handling and color are so close to Manet that one can imagine this work could have been done when Czanne was more under the influence of the elder painter" (J. Rewald, op. cit., p. 156).
Color and form in this picture are developed with short animated brushstrokes, indicating a more nervous, more eager and more excitable temperament than that of Manet. This suggests that the work was painted circa 1873 while Czanne lived in the Auvers home of Dr. Gachet.
Fleurs dans un vase once formed part of the Havemeyer Collection which was assembled at the turn of the twentieth century with the assistance of Mary Cassatt. The Havemeyers visited the Parisian dealer Ambroise Vollard in April 1901 from whom they purchased their first works by Czannes, including the present painting.
Fleurs dans un vase displays a strong sense of artistry, in the complex pictorial arrangement of the flowers and the richness of Czanne's palette. The formal frontality of this painting is characteristic of the artist's early still-lifes. John Rewald notes, "The handling and color are so close to Manet that one can imagine this work could have been done when Czanne was more under the influence of the elder painter" (J. Rewald, op. cit., p. 156).
Color and form in this picture are developed with short animated brushstrokes, indicating a more nervous, more eager and more excitable temperament than that of Manet. This suggests that the work was painted circa 1873 while Czanne lived in the Auvers home of Dr. Gachet.
Fleurs dans un vase once formed part of the Havemeyer Collection which was assembled at the turn of the twentieth century with the assistance of Mary Cassatt. The Havemeyers visited the Parisian dealer Ambroise Vollard in April 1901 from whom they purchased their first works by Czannes, including the present painting.