A bouquet of six blousy, frilled, white and pale pink peonies are gathered in a vase in this vertical still-life painting. One more flower lies on the table in front of the vase. The bright, cream-white petals of two open flowers curl back from yellow centers. The petals of other flowers are cupped in dense layers, some petals streaked in dark or blush pink. The roughly oval, green leaves come to points at each end. The straight-sided vase is painted so that it nearly disappears into the fog-gray and soft brown background, but the optics of the water in the clear glass play with the light…
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Peonies in a Vase

painter Charles Ethan Porter (American, 1847 - 1923)

c. 1885

Medium
oil on canvas
Classification
Painting
Dimensions
overall: 45.72 × 40.64 cm (18 × 16 in.) ; framed: 61.6 × 56.52 × 4.45 cm (24 1/4 × 22 1/4 × 1 3/4 in.)
Culture
American
Museum
National Gallery of Art, CAB
Credit line
Gift of William and Abigail Gerdts
Rights
Public domain (NGA Open Access, CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed

View at the National Gallery of Art