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About a dozen ruby-red and bright pink peonies in a gold and green vase sit on a rumpled cloth in this loosely painted, horizontal still life. The flowers, cloth, and background are painted with visible brushstrokes, making many of the details indistinct. Nestled among moss-green leaves, most of the flowers are red but three pink peonies are interspersed in the bouquet, to our right. One additional red peony lies on the table, near the lower left corner of the painting. The narrow vase holding the flowers has emerald-green ovals against a celery-green background. The fabric bunched on the table is loosely painted in strokes of pumpkin orange, indigo blue, and asparagus green, that together suggest a geometric pattern. The wall behind the bouquet is streaked with sky blue and parchment white, and two pictures hanging one over the other, to our right, are cut off by the top and right edges of the composition. The top picture has a wide, cream-white mat and shows a tan house with a charcoal-gray roof against a blue sky. The bottom picture shows a ballerina wearing a knee-length tutu bent forward over her knees, presumably tying a slipper. The artist inscribed, dated, and signed the work in pine-green paint in the upper left corner, “à M. Théodore Gad son ami” and, underneath, “P Gauguin 84.”

Paul Gauguin

Still Life with Peonies, 1884

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 83

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 59.7 x 73 cm (23 1/2 x 28 3/4 in.)

Credit Line

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

Accession Number

1995.47.10

Artists / Makers

Paul Gauguin (painter) French, 1848 - 1903

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

upper left: à M. Théodore Gad son ami / P Gauguin 84

Provenance

By gift from the artist to M. Haslauer, Rouen; his family; possibly (Haslauer sale, Rouen, 3-6 May 1932).[1] Possibly M. Paté, Rouen;[2] (Carstairs Gallery, New York);[3] sold August 1957 to Mr. Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia; gift 1995 to NGA.

[1] According to the 1964 Wildenstein catalogue raisonné, no. 121.

[2] According to the provenance given in the 2001 Wildenstein catalogue raisonné, quoting a letter written by M. Paté, an antiques dealer, dated 22 May 1932.

[3] See also the 1957 description written by Carstairs Gallery, in NGA curatorial files, in which it is stated that "until recently this picture has never been out of the Haslauer family's possession," which is difficult to reconcile with its sale to M. Paté in 1932.

Associated Names

Carstairs Gallery
Haslauer, M.
Mellon, Paul
Sale, Rouen

Exhibition History

1959: Masterpieces of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Painting, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

1966: French Paintings from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Mrs. Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1966, no. 123, repro.

2005: Blumenmythos: Von Vincent van Gogh bis Jeff Koons (Flower Myth: Vincent van Gogh to Jeff Koons), Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark; Fondation Beyeler, Basel, 2005, no. 39, repro. (shown only in Basel).

2005: Gauguin and Impressionism, Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen; Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, 2005-2006, no. 41, repro.

2010: Gauguin: Maker of Myth, Tate, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2010-2011, no. 27, repro.

2014: Working Among Flowers: Floral Still-Life Painting in Nineteenth-Century France, Dallas Museum of Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Denver Art Museum, 2014-2015, no. 44, repro.

Bibliography

1964: Wildenstein, Georges. Gauguin. 2 vols. Paris, 1964: no. 131, repro.

1966: French Paintings from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Mrs. Mellon Bruce. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1966: repro. no. 123.

1970: Bodelsen, Marete. "Gauguin the Collector." The Burlington Magazine Vol 112, no. 810 (September 1970): 588 fig. 20, 607 no. 12.

1981: Sugana, Gabriele Mandel. Tout l'oeuvre peint de Gauguin. Milan, 1981: no. 18, repro.

2001: Wildenstein, Daniel. Gauguin: Premier itinéraire d'un sauvage. Catalogue de l'oeuvre peint (1873-1888). 2 vols. Paris, 2001: 1:no. 145, repro.

2005: Bretell, Richard R., and Anne-Birgitte Fonsmark. Gauguin and Impressionism. Exh. cat. Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth; Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen. New Haven, 2005: no. 41, repro.

2010: Thomson, Belinda et al. Gauguin: Maker of Myth. Exh. cat. Tate Modern, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2010: no. 27, repro.