Roses and Peonies - Manet, Monet, Renoir, and Van gogh

"Home Sweet Home"

"Half Yard Long"

I finally hung up my Nana's nostalgic flower prints in my new office. They are antique chromolithographs by Paul de Longpre, created in the early 1900s at Gray Lith Co. of New York. One is a pair of pink and red geraniums, entitled Home Sweet Home. The red roses print, Half Yard Long, is from 1900. Bride Pink Cabbage Roses and another with pink and gold roses are from around 1907. The artist only lived in NY from 1890-99, then moved to Hollywood, CA.

My maternal grandfather, Walter Jenkins, was a florist who had a shop in New York City. I believe it may have been located around W. 34th or W. 37th street. He died when my Mom was about 28 years old. Since my Mom passed in 2011, that information is forever lost.

All I have is this cherished black-and-white photo of him standing outside his shop. 

"Vase of Peonies on a Small
Pedestal" (1864), Manet

"White Roses and Cherries"
(1865), Fantin-Latour

These prints inspired me to write a post about roses and peonies by other famous artists, including Manet, whom I teach about along with a lesson on positive-negative space. Here, I will compare and contrast paintings by Realists, Édouard Manet and Henri Fantin-Latour and Impressionists, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Vincent Van Gogh.

Manet's Peonies is a fine example of positive-negative space. Of course, I also show lots of fun optical illusions such as the vase with interesting profiles (See my Visual Observation and Illusion post from June 2019). The pair of paintings make for a lively discussion of the differences between them. Students must also find similarities. I go around the room asking students where their eyes go first. In the end, I do a show of hands to find out which of the two paintings they prefer.

Next, we study another Manet version of peonies alongside that of his colleague, Claude Monet. This pair is always more exciting to talk about because of the colors and the difference in the projected mood. I've also lucked out when there are peonies in the classroom that were gifted to my teacher. They definitely appreciate how delicate these flowers are!

"Peonies" (1864-65), Manet

"Vase of Peonies" (1882), Monet

"Vase of Peonies" (1890), Renoir

"Vase of Peonies" (1880), Renoir

Many artists painted peonies, and here are two painted by Renoir.

While my art lessons have been primarily focused on the peonies painted by Manet and Monet, I have to say that I prefer the Renoir and Van Gogh versions with the warm brown backgrounds. A close second would be the brighter, happier red peonies of both Renoir and Monet.

"Rose and Peonies" (1886), Van Gogh

"Vase with Peonies" (1886), Van Gogh

Finally, I want to highlight the peonies painted by Vincent
Van Gogh.

Vincent's peonies are drooping downward toward the reddish-orange tabletop, but the addition of the blue blooms brings your eye back upward. Since Van Gogh is most famous for flowers other than peonies, here are two more you may know.

"Irises" (1889), Van Gogh, J. Paul Getty Museum.

"Vase of Fifteen Sunflowers" (1888),
National Gallery London

One of my all-time favorites is Van Gogh's Irises painted in 1889. I was lucky enough to see Sunflowers on a trip to London in 2017. I never bothered to count its blooms.