Flowers 1901

This painting of flowers was made by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and just looking at it, I can imagine the dance of his hand, applying these strokes of color. The whole thing is so tactile, as if the paint itself is blooming. Renoir must have stood here, coaxing these forms into being. It is a kind of conversation he is having with the flowers. I wonder, was he trying to capture their fleeting beauty, or was he trying to find something more permanent in the paint itself? The colours are so warm and inviting, like sunshine on skin, that each brushstroke feels deliberate, a small act of devotion. There is a softness there that feels very much like Renoir, but also a kind of boldness in the way the colors push against each other. Painters are always in dialogue, a chain of call and response through the ages. Each work builds upon those that came before, so we can keep on seeing and feeling in new ways.