Flowers in a Jar 1950

Augustus John’s ‘Flowers in a Jar’ is a painted still life, a genre that allows an artist to really ruminate on color, shape, and form. Here, John has arranged a vibrant bouquet in what looks like a leopard print vase, so the whole painting sings with energy. You can see how he’s built up layers of paint, thick in some areas, thinner in others, really pushing the boundaries of color and texture. It feels like he’s not just painting flowers, but capturing a fleeting moment, the way light hits the petals, the way the colors play off each other. I imagine he created this piece in an energetic burst, with a kind of intuitive looseness. The painting reminds me a little of work by Vanessa Bell, but also someone like Bonnard. It’s as though the artist is in dialogue with the paintings of the past, reinterpreting them through the lens of his own experience. It's that conversation between artists, across time, that really gets me going! Painting allows us all to see the world in new ways.