Flowers in art

Flowers have long been one of favorite subjects for paintings. Today we’re highlighting some of our favorite artists who captured their beauty on canvas. Enjoy!

Sunflowers, irises, roses, almond blossoms… It's impossible to choose a favorite among all the blooms by Vincent Van Gogh.


Vincent van Gogh, Sprig of Flowering Almond in a Glass, 1888
Van Gogh Museum: http://museu.ms/museum/details/1048/van-gogh-museum

Vincent van Gogh, Roses, 1890
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Gift of Pamela Harriman in memory of W. Averell Harriman: https://museu.ms/museum/details/965/national-gallery-of-art

Berthe Morisot, one of "les trois grandes dames" of Impressionism, portrayed a wide range of subjects, but today her roses are our favorite.


Berthe Morisot, Roses, 1894
Private Collection

Georgia O'Keeffe, recognized as the "mother of American modernism", is best known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes.

“If you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for a moment.”
-- Georgia O'Keeffe


Georgia O'Keeffe, Spring, 1922
Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center

Claude Monet took more pride in his garden than his art and, in particular, the pond of waterlilies he grew at Giverny.

“I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.”
-- Claude Monet

Claude Monet, Water Lilies, 1906
Art Institute of Chicago: https://museu.ms/museum/details/10101/the-art-institute-of-chicago

Claude Monet, Water Lilies and the Japanese bridge, 1897–99
Princeton University Art Museum

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, along with Monet one of the founding fathers of Impressionism, produced a great many paintings of flowers.

“Why shouldn't art be pretty? There are enough unpleasant things in the world.”
-- Pierre-Auguste Renoir
 

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Flowers in a Vase, c. 1880
Philadelphia Museum of Art: https://museu.ms/museum/details/613/philadelphia-museum-of-art