Gladioli in a Vase

Renoir painted this canvas in 1875, the year he co-organised the ill-fated Impressionist auction at the Hôtel Drouot that ended in near riot as hostile crowds attacked the works on display. Despite that commercial turbulence, he continued producing flower studies throughout this period, finding in gladioli a technical challenge that rewarded his loose gestural brushwork. Flower paintings occupied an important place within Impressionism as a genre that permitted formal experimentation without the social complexities of figure work. The brilliant orange-red of gladioli provided exactly the vibrant colour opposition Renoir was exploring during these years.

Renoir treats the gladioli as a mass of overlapping colour strokes rather than botanically precise forms. Individual blooms are suggested through dabs of vermilion, white, and pale rose, with green foliage in rapid curved marks.