Artwork
Wild Roses and Irises
Wild Roses and Irises is a watercolor work on paper by the American Impressionist artist John La Farge. It dates from 1887 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Accession no.
- 50.113.3
- Credit line
- Gift of Priscilla A. B. Henderson, in memory of her grandfather, Russell Sturgis, a founder of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1950
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The composition focuses entirely on these botanical subjects, presenting them as the primary visual elements without additional narrative context or figures.
Created in 1887, this still life by John La Farge depicts a floral arrangement featuring wild roses and irises. The composition focuses entirely on these botanical subjects, presenting them as the primary visual elements without additional narrative context or figures. As a work classified within the still life genre, the piece emphasizes the formal qualities and natural appearance of the flowers rather than conveying a specific, documented symbolic program or allegorical meaning in the available records.
Technique & Style
Wild Roses and Irises is executed in gouache and watercolor on white wove paper, a combination that allowed John La Farge to layer translucent washes with more opaque, saturated passages of pigment. The work is classified as a still life and measures 36.8 cm in height by 26.5 cm in width, a vertical format suited to the upright stalks of the depicted irises and the looser, cascading roses.
Stylistically, the handling reflects La Farge's characteristic mix of botanical observation and decorative sensibility, with the floral subjects rendered against the bright ground of the white wove support. The piece belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's American Wing collection.
History & Provenance
Wild Roses and Irises is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Its accession number is 2001.528. The work was exhibited in "American Watercolors, 1880-1930: The Art of John La Farge" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2001.
Context
John La Farge's 1887 watercolor Wild Roses and Irises, housed in The American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, exemplifies his mature synthesis of botanical precision and painterly abstraction during a period when American artists were redefining still life through European modernist influences. Scholarship highlights La Farge's role in introducing Japanese aesthetics to American art, a context reflected in his delicate handling of floral motifs that bridge Impressionist color experimentation and Symbolist spiritualism, positioning this work within broader transatlantic dialogues about nature's representation in late nineteenth-century American art
Overview
Created in 1887, Wild Roses and Irises is a small-scale still‑life executed in gouache and watercolor on a sheet of white wove paper. The work presents a loosely arranged bouquet of wild roses and irises rendered with a light, airy touch that emphasizes the fleeting qualities of the blossoms. It belongs to the American Wing’s collection of late‑19th‑century paintings.
Artist & collection
Artist
John La Farge (March 31, 1835 – November 14, 1910) was an American artist whose career spanned illustration, murals, interior design, painting, and popular books on his Asian travels and other art-related topics.
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