Vase of Flowers in Blue
Sanyu
1956
- Year：1956
- Medium：Oil on canvas
- Dimensions：72.5 × 46.5 cm
Introduction
Sanyu, one of the first generation of Chinese artists to study in France, is internationally renowned for his depictions of nudes and flowers. He pursued artistic freedom throughout his life and created this work amid the difficult living conditions of his later years. The contours of the white lilacs and vase are clean and forceful, combining the varied, expressive lines of Chinese calligraphy with the bold simplicity of early Modernism. This piece stands as a quintessential example of Sanyu’s lifelong floral paintings. It symbolizes his solitary brilliance on the European art stage—just as Wu Guanzhong once said, “Sanyu himself was a bonsai, an Oriental bonsai in the garden of Paris.” There are only six known paintings in Sanyu’s Flower and Vase series that feature a Prussian blue background, making this work all the more precious.
