Vase with Pink Flowers

George Hendrik Breitner's 'Vase with Pink Flowers' (1901) is a still-life departure from his usual urban and figure subjects — the flower vase as a domestic object providing the informal, intimate subject matter of the most domestic of still-life traditions. Breitner's engagement with still-life subjects was occasional rather than systematic, and his flower vase shows his ability to apply his vigorous, direct handling to a subject quite different from his characteristic street scenes and figure studies.

Breitner renders the pink flowers with his characteristic confident brushwork — the loosely handled flowers in the vase depicted with the same directness and economy he brought to all his subjects. His handling of the pink flowers against the surrounding ground creates the composition's basic color relationship, the specific quality of the pink blooms observed with the same directness he brought to his street and figure work. The informal quality of the arrangement suits his consistently non-fussy approach.