Artwork
Spring Flowers
Spring Flowers is an oil painting. It dates from 1855 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
A copy after Gustave Courbet, the piece continues Courbet's approach of direct observation without idealization.
Created in 1855, this oil painting on canvas is a floral still life associated with the Realist movement. A copy after Gustave Courbet, the piece continues Courbet's approach of direct observation without idealization. The subject is strictly botanical, presenting blooms as the sole focus of the composition.
Specific symbolic readings of the individual flowers are not documented; the work emphasizes the tangible presence of the flora, consistent with the Realist interest in everyday natural subjects.
Technique & Style
The work is executed in oil paint on a stretched canvas, a support typical of mid-nineteenth-century easel painting, and follows a realist approach in rendering the blossoms with naturalistic detail. As a copy after Gustave Courbet, it reproduces the composition of a floral still life. The painting measures 60.3 by 81.9 cm. The available sources do not provide a condition report.
History & Provenance
Spring Flowers is an oil on canvas floral still life of 1855, a copy after Gustave Courbet, measuring 60.3 by 81.9 cm. It belonged to Louisine Havemeyer and entered the H. O. Havemeyer Collection, through which it was shown in the Loan Exhibition of the Works of Gustave Courbet. It is now held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Its accession number is not disclosed in the available sources.
Overview
The oil painting titled Spring Flowers presents a dense arrangement of white blossoms. The composition is dominated by this floral cluster, which occupies the majority of the canvas. Rendered with a palpable texture, the flowers emerge prominently against a subdued background, drawing the viewer's attention to their intricate forms and the artist's expressive handling of the medium.
Artist & collection
