Lilac
1802
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
About the artist
Artist
Philipp Otto Runge
Philipp Otto Runge (German: ; 1777–1810) was a German artist, draftsman, painter, and color theorist.
See the richer artist page1802
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Lilac is a 1802 by Philipp Otto Runge, a Romanticism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a single lilac branch, every leaf and petal drawn with sharp, careful lines against a plain background. Runge made these as paper cut-outs—a folk art his mother taught him. He gave them as gifts, treating each flower like a tiny portrait. The Cleveland Museum’s piece was once a present to a family of artists in Hamburg. Look up *sfumato* next to see how softer edges changed botanical art.
Lilac belongs to a series of cut-out silhouettes created by Philipp Otto Runge around the early 1800s. Each presents a plant or flower in exacting detail, including each petal and leaf. The technique used was a traditional folk practice, which Runge learned early on from his mother. He ultimately produced well over one hundred such works, which he occasionally gave as gifts; this work, for example, was offered by the artist to the Specktors, a Hamburg based family of artists.
Plants and landscape were one of Philipp Otto Runge’s favorite subjects and he once wrote “Is there not then in this new art—call it landscape if you like—a highest point to be achieved?”
Read the full account in the museum source.
Philipp Otto Runge (German: ; 1777–1810) was a German artist, draftsman, painter, and color theorist.
See the richer artist pageYour cart is empty
Explore artworks →
