# Spring Flowers

- By: Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926)
- Date: 1864
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: Framed: 144.5 x 117.2 x 12.1 cm (56 7/8 x 46 1/8 x 4 3/4 in.); Unframed: 116.8 x 90.5 cm (46 x 35 5/8 in.)
- Culture: France, 19th century
- Credit line: Gift of the Hanna Fund
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/1953.155)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1953.155/1953.155_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Little Ones profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

This early work reveals Claude Monet's fascination with capturing the transitory effects that became the primary focus of his later innovations. Painted with almost scientific accuracy, this still life has a freshness and immediacy derived partly from its composition. Isolated against a dark background, the fully mature peonies, potted hydrangeas, and basketed lilacs spill downward and outward from the geraniums at the rear. At the same time, Monet's energetic brushwork conveys the sparkling play of light on leaves and petals.