Tulips and narcissi

During the Edwardian years, Clausen became increasingly interested in still-life painting - specifically in flower-pieces. Such works brought into the studio the themes of growth and decay that he had experienced when working en plein air in the fields, and when his retrospective exhibition was staged at Barbizon House in 1928, over a quarter of the exhibits were flower-pieces. It was a genre that he had helped to re-invent for a new generation of middle class city-dwelling collectors.

However, at a time when elaborate arrangements in the manner of Jan van Huysum, became popular, the painter, characteristically, insisted on simplicity. Daisies, cornflowers or narcissi pulled from the garden and placed in a glass jar were sufficient to catch the eye. Even Clausen's tulips, bending to the light, are those from the back borders, rather than show specimens. Here, with a few narcissi, set on a table in front of a muslin curtain they echo Flowers against the Light (unlocated), one of his last Royal Academy exhibits of 1939. Beauty, he had always insisted, must be found in simple things.

A number of canvases of this type were found in the artist's studio after his death and one, a still-life of tulips of similar size to the present example, was given to the Royal Academy by his son, Hugh Clausen, in 1970.

KMc