Spring Flowers 1904

Maurice Prendergast created this painting, Spring Flowers, with oil paint on canvas. Look closely, and you’ll see Prendergast applied the oil paint in a broken, mosaic-like pattern. This technique, rooted in Impressionism, captures the vibrant, fleeting qualities of light on the blossoms. Notice how the colors blend and vibrate, creating a sense of movement and energy. But Prendergast wasn't just copying nature; he was actively constructing a decorative surface. The paint becomes almost sculptural. The handling of the medium is crucial to its effect: the flowers emerge as vibrant shapes, almost like cloisonné enamel. Prendergast was, in fact, known for his monotypes and watercolors as well as his oils, and all of his work has a similar commitment to surface pattern. Prendergast here elevates the act of painting to a level of conscious artifice, a celebration of the artificiality of art itself.