Still Life with White Peonies and Other Flowers

Manet painted numerous still lifes throughout his career, particularly in the last decade of his life as rheumatism increasingly restricted his movement. This arrangement of white peonies with other flowers, from around 1880, held at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, belongs to his celebrated series of flower paintings often given as gifts to friends including Berthe Morisot and Eva Gonzalès. The white peony was a favourite motif — its complex, layered petals challenged and delighted him. These late flower paintings are among the most technically virtuosic works of his career and influenced van Gogh's own ambitious flower studies.

Manet renders the peonies in rapid, confident strokes of white, cream, and pale pink, building the complex petals through bold impasto highlights. The background is kept dark and neutral, heightening the chromatic intensity of the blooms. His characteristic confidence — painting wet-on-wet without correction — gives the flowers remarkable freshness.