A still life with spring flowers

Details

Jan Sluijters (DUTCH, 1881-1957)
A still life with spring flowers
signed 'Jan Sluijters' (lower left)
oil on canvas
116 x 107 cm.
Painted circa 1925-1926.

Provenance

Dr. A.F. Philips, Eindhoven, thence by descent to the present owners.

Exhibited

Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, 25th annual international exhibition at the Carnegie Institute, 14 October-5 December 1926, no. 273.

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Lot Essay

In 1927 Jan Sluijters states in NRC Handelsblad: "My world of inspiration can be found within a circle of 25 metres around me. I don't travel. Here I find everything I paint: my wife, my children, this furniture, a few vases and jars, flowers, and from time to time a model". In the 1920s Jan Sluijters paints most of his elegant flower still lifes. Every bouquet entering the artist's house was to be painted immediately. The character of the flower pieces shows the artist's pleasure in capturing colour and form. Around 1925 he makes his most exuberant flower still lifes, mostly composed of bright, expressive flowers, the background often giving us an peek in the artist's studio. At a high age Sluijters concludes that he discovered more beauty in a bouquet, in the shifting play of colour and light, than on a round trip to Paris.

The present lot shows us the vibrant colours of irises, gladioli, roses, gerberas, delphiniums and freesias against a contrasting background with subtle colour nuances, only adding to the spectacular effect.

To be included in the catalogue raisonné on the artist's work, currently being prepared by the Netherlands Institute for Art History (RKD) in The Hague.

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