Dimensions: support: 651 x 489 mm frame: 916 x 758 x 103 mm
Copyright: © Succession Picasso/DACS 2014 | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Curator: Here we have Pablo Picasso's "Flowers", currently held in the Tate Collections. It's a moderately sized oil on canvas. Editor: It’s densely packed, isn't it? The paint application is quite thick, almost sculptural. You can practically feel the texture of the impasto. Curator: Indeed. It's interesting how Picasso, often associated with revolutionary artistic movements, returns to a traditional genre like still life. It speaks to the persistence of academic conventions even as they're being challenged. Editor: And look at the vase itself—it's almost lost in the explosion of floral material. Are we meant to consider the labor involved in acquiring and arranging these flowers? The consumption of beauty as a form of status? Curator: Possibly. One could also see this as a commentary on the role of art itself, its decorative function, its place in society. Editor: I still can't get over the raw materiality of the brushstrokes. It's about so much more than just depicting flowers. Curator: Certainly gives one a lot to consider about art's many layers. Editor: Exactly!
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This was the first work by Pablo Picasso to be bought by the Tate Gallery. It was acquired in 1933 with the help of the Contemporary Art Society, a fund established in 1910 to help public museums and galleries buy important works of art. This surprising flower painting by Picasso reveals a lot about the tastes of the Tate Gallery Trustees in the early twentieth century. In 1933 Picasso was already an established avant-garde artist, but the decision to buy this conservative early work shows that the Trustees were resisting the more radical developments in modern art. Gallery label, September 2004
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