拍品專文
Although still lifes are among the earliest works by Monet, it was not until 1878 that he tackled the motif of the single vase of flowers, already commandeered by Renoir. This is one of three dated that year and his first study of chrysanthemums. It is a precursor of the somewhat larger work of the same title (Wildenstein no. 634) in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, formerly H.O. Havemeyer, New York, which although dated by the artist 1882, Wildenstein (op.cit., p. 388) believes it to have been painted just two years after this work, in 1880. Both share a delicate sensuality, although this work is perhaps somewhat less formal and more nuanced due to the charming strip of fringed fabric wound around the terra-cotta pot containing the flowers.
It is particularly in Monet's still lifes that we recognize
what it was that Van Gogh learned from him: not simply the
powerful and expressive palette but also a quality of
impassioned drawing that is much more apparent in the flower
paintings--forms painted at the range of stereoscopic vision,
therefore more tactile--than in most of his landscapes. In
these sumptuous flower paintings done only when the weather
prevented outdoor work, the drawing and color are carried
together with tremendous impetus. His love for flowers is
unmistakable. The character, the quality of growth, the
specific rhythm of each bouquet is given its due. (R. Gordon
and A. Forge, Monet, New York, 1983, p. 215)
Although flowers in situ appeared in Monet's earliest landscapes, it is possible that he was stimulated to paint this, one of his first vase of flower still lifes, as a result of his commission to create four decorative panels for Ernest Hoschedé's château in Rottembourg in 1876. Taking as his theme the garden of the château, he encountered a rich profusion of flowers, which he painted on a relatively massive scale (Wildenstein nos. 417 and 418). This, and the necessity for the thirty-eight year-old artist to find a theme that might meet with commercial success led to the incomparable delicacy and simplicity of Chrysanthèmes.
It is interesting to note that Moise Dreyfus, the first owner of this work, purchased it from the artist through the good agencies of their mutual friend Mary Cassatt. It remained with the Dreyfus family for over one hundred years.
It is particularly in Monet's still lifes that we recognize
what it was that Van Gogh learned from him: not simply the
powerful and expressive palette but also a quality of
impassioned drawing that is much more apparent in the flower
paintings--forms painted at the range of stereoscopic vision,
therefore more tactile--than in most of his landscapes. In
these sumptuous flower paintings done only when the weather
prevented outdoor work, the drawing and color are carried
together with tremendous impetus. His love for flowers is
unmistakable. The character, the quality of growth, the
specific rhythm of each bouquet is given its due. (R. Gordon
and A. Forge, Monet, New York, 1983, p. 215)
Although flowers in situ appeared in Monet's earliest landscapes, it is possible that he was stimulated to paint this, one of his first vase of flower still lifes, as a result of his commission to create four decorative panels for Ernest Hoschedé's château in Rottembourg in 1876. Taking as his theme the garden of the château, he encountered a rich profusion of flowers, which he painted on a relatively massive scale (Wildenstein nos. 417 and 418). This, and the necessity for the thirty-eight year-old artist to find a theme that might meet with commercial success led to the incomparable delicacy and simplicity of Chrysanthèmes.
It is interesting to note that Moise Dreyfus, the first owner of this work, purchased it from the artist through the good agencies of their mutual friend Mary Cassatt. It remained with the Dreyfus family for over one hundred years.