Artwork
White Flower
White Flower is an oil painting by the Abstract Expressionist artist Marsden Hartley. It dates from 1917 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The work belongs to a tradition of floral still life, reducing its imagery to the concentrated image of a bloom rendered in oil on panel.
White Flower is an oil painting by Marsden Hartley that depicts a single flower as its sole subject. The work belongs to a tradition of floral still life, reducing its imagery to the concentrated image of a bloom rendered in oil on panel. Hartley's choice of a flower as the central motif, isolated against the support rather than arranged with other objects, emphasizes the symbolic potential of the blossom itself as a vehicle for meaning.
Although the sources do not specify the species of flower portrayed or attribute a particular symbolic reading to it, the title White Flower directs attention to color and purity as likely interpretive anchors. The painting's modest scale and singular focus invite contemplation of the bloom as an emblem of delicacy and quiet presence, consistent with the broader conventions of early twentieth-century floral imagery.
Technique & Style
White Flower is an oil painting executed on panel, a support choice well suited to the work's modest scale of 40.6 by 30.5 centimeters. Hartley rendered the floral subject in oil paint, working on a rigid wooden ground rather than canvas, which tends to produce a smoother, more controlled surface. The painting is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The combination of oil medium with a panel support points to an intimate handling, allowing for precise brushwork within the small format. As a still-life focused on a single bloom, the work emphasizes formal simplicity and direct observation rather than elaborate compositional structure.
History & Provenance
White Flower is an oil painting on panel created in 1917 by Marsden Hartley. The work measures 40.6 cm in height and 30.5 cm in width. It entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it remains on display.
Hartley conceived the piece as a modernist exploration of natural forms, reflecting his interest in abstraction and symbolic representation.
White Flower is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Created in 1917, the work is an oil painting on panel measuring 40.6 cm in height and 30.5 cm in width. While the artwork's current location and physical attributes are documented, the provided sources do not contain specific inventory accession numbers or a record of its exhibition history.
Overview
Created in 1917, this oil painting by American modernist Marsden Hartley presents a solitary white blossom set against a muted, dark backdrop. The work is part of the collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Marsden Hartley was an American Modernist painter, poet, and essayist. Hartley developed his painting abilities by observing Cubist artists in Paris and Berlin.
