Manet, Édouard (1832-1883)
Nature morte aux pivoines blanches et autres fleurs (Still Life with White Peonies and Other Flowers)
c.1880
Oil on canvas, 35.5 x 26.5 cm
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
Manet played an important role in the transition from realism to the more spontaneous and luminous style of Impressionism. Manet’s principal subject matter was modern life in nineteenth-century Paris, but he also painted flower still lifes. These bouquets might seem like a boring subject compared with the bustling life of the French capital, but flowers allowed the Impressionists an opportunity to experiment with light and colour. (Boijmans)