Fleurs
Frédéric Bazille
Circa 1870
- YEAR:Circa 1870
- MEDIUM:Oil on canvas
- DIMENSIONS:46.2 x 38.4 cm
Introduction
Frédéric Bazille was a gifted painter associated with the Impressionist circle, whose career was tragically brief. He is renowned for his depictions of the diversity of life in 19th-century Paris. With fewer than one hundred surviving works by him, purely floral compositions are particularly rare, making this work all the more valuable. Fleurs, created around 1870, is one of the artist’s final works. The composition features seasonal flowers such as roses and gladiolus as Bazille keenly captured the burgeoning trade of cut flowers in Paris, a new urban trend. His bouquet combines the solid forms of Realism with experiments of the light and colors conducted by Impressionism. The blooming flowers celebrate the vitality of nature, also serving as a reflection of Bazille’s brief yet intense artistic life.
