Mullein in Bloom
1898
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1898
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Mullein in Bloom is a 1898 by Eugène Atget, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This photograph shows a close-up of a mullein plant in bloom, its tall yellow flowers standing against a soft, blurred background. Taken in Paris around 1898, it looks like a simple study of nature. But it was really made for artists and illustrators who needed clear references. Atget sold these kinds of images to painters who wanted accurate details. His work quietly shaped the straight, unfiltered style that later photographers admired. Check out more of his photos at The Cleveland Museum of Art.
Atget produced architectural details, views of historic Paris, landscapes, and botanical images for use by painters and illustrators. Despite being a product of the 19th century, he was greatly admired by the avant-garde photographers of the 1920s. Modernists esteemed the straightforwardness of his photographs, while the Surrealists found inspiration in their evocative power. An artist or illustrator using this image of a common plant used in herbal remedies would have ignored the landscape background. But the Surrealists would have appreciated the unexpected, unintended surrealism of its odd…
Read the full account in the museum source.
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