White Vase with Roses and Other Flowers

Van Gogh painted white vases with flowers repeatedly during his Paris years of 1886-88 as exercises in rendering the complex colors within white objects and as chromatic studies of different flower species. This vase with roses and other flowers shows his developing Paris palette — lighter and more chromatic than Nuenen — applied to a traditional still-life subject. He had studied the great French still-life tradition from Chardin through the Impressionists, and these Paris flower paintings reflect both that lineage and his own rapidly evolving color sensibility. The white vase itself — technically demanding, requiring careful observation of reflected color — was both subject and challenge.

The white vase is rendered with carefully observed reflected colors — shadows carry blue-gray tones, the lit areas range from warm white to cream. The flowers provide a range of chromatic interest above. Van Gogh's Parisian brushwork is visible in the varied, responsive strokes. The palette is noticeably lighter than his Dutch period still lifes.