Artwork
Bloemen in een rood aarden pot
Bloemen in een rood aarden pot is an oil painting by the Impressionist artist Antoine Vollon. It dates from 1890 and is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
By concentrating on the flowers themselves and their container, the painting invites contemplation of natural form, color, and the transient beauty of blooms.
Bloemen in een rood aarden pot is a still life whose subject is a floral arrangement, with the depicted motif identified simply as flowers. The work belongs to the still-life genre, a category devoted to the careful observation of inanimate objects, and its title indicates that the bouquet is presented in a red earthenware pot, a humble vessel that anchors the composition in an everyday domestic setting rather than a luxurious one.
The choice of a modest clay pot rather than ornate metalwork or crystal aligns with the broader nineteenth-century still-life tradition of elevating common materials through painterly attention. By concentrating on the flowers themselves and their container, the painting invites contemplation of natural form, color, and the transient beauty of blooms.
Technique & Style
Bloemen in een rood aarden pot is an 1880 oil painting on canvas created by Antoine Vollon. The work measures 79.5 cm in height and 60 cm in width and depicts a flower arrangement. It is executed in the still life genre and was painted using oil paint on canvas, reflecting the formal qualities of 19th-century Dutch still life painting.
The surface handling and condition of the work are consistent with oil on canvas from this period, though specific conservation details are not provided in the sources. The painting was created for Joannes Barnardus Antonius Maria Westerwoudt and is part of the Rijksmuseum collection.
History & Provenance
Antoine Vollon painted Bloemen in een rood aarden pot in 1880 as an oil on canvas still life, measuring 79.5 cm by 60 cm. The work entered the collection of Joannes Barnardus Antonius Maria Westerwoudt before being acquired by the Rijksmuseum and held in the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands Art Collection. It remains part of the Rijksmuseum's holdings today.
Bloemen in een rood aarden pot is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, which also manages the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands Art Collection. The work was previously owned by Joannes Barnardus Antonius Maria Westerwoudt before entering the institutional holding. While the painting is part of these major Dutch collections, the available records do not list a specific inventory or accession number for the piece. Furthermore, no details regarding its exhibition history are provided in the current documentation.
Overview
Created in 1890, Bloemen in een rood aarden pot is an oil on canvas still‑life by French painter Antoine Vollon. The work presents a modest bouquet of white and yellow blossoms set within a deep‑red earthenware vessel, rendered with a focus on the tangible qualities of light and surface. It belongs to the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Context
Although Vollon is primarily associated with French realism, his still‑lifes were produced during a period when Impressionist ideas about light and color were influencing many artists. Bloemen in een rood aarden pot reflects this cross‑current, marrying a realistic rendering of material surfaces with a loose, spontaneous arrangement that hints at the broader shifts in late‑nineteenth‑century French painting.
Artist & collection
Artist
Antoine Vollon (23 April 1833 – 27 August 1900) was a French realist artist, best known as a painter of still lifes, landscapes, and figures.
