Vase of Hollyhocks

Vincent van Gogh

Contemporary-Art.org
Keywords: VaseHollyhocks

Work Overview

Vase with Hollyhocks, 1886, Kunsthaus Zürich


Unable to pay for models to pose for portraits, Van Gogh threw himself heartily into painting still lifes of flowers, "red poppies, blue corn flowers and myosotis, white and red roses, yellow chrysanthemums."[45]


Bowl with Sunflowers, Roses and Other Flowers, 1886, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany (F250)
Vase with Autumn Asters (F234) is one example of the many still lifes that Van Gogh painted after he arrived in Paris. As he said to a friend, he wished for his paintings to take on intense colors, rather than the grey tones.[28] In this arrangement Van Gogh plays with harmonizing colors: rose, pink, red and brown.[46]


Basket of pansies (F244) is an example of Van Gogh's experimentation with contrasting colors. In this case the contrasting pair are purple and yellow.[47] He also used the contrasting red in the tambourine and green in the background for the painting, also known as Tambourine with Pansies. Van Gogh found pansies an example of natural color theory.[33]


Vase with Hollyhocks (F235) was painted in the summer in contrasting shades of red and green. Van Gogh believed that he could express the season of the year by the colors that he used in his work. He experimented in this painting with creating an image that was nearly one-dimensional. The decorative jug used in this painting also appears in Van Gogh's Vase with Autumn Asters (F234).[33] Hollyhocks, native to China and Japan, were favored by Impressionists "for their spire-like growth, deeply-lobed green leaves and their satiny, cup-shaped flowers that hug the upper flower stem."