Roses 1884

"Roses" is an oil on canvas painting by Henri Fantin-Latour, a 19th-century French artist known for his still lifes, particularly of flowers. During a period of rapid industrialization, Fantin-Latour turned to the timeless beauty of flowers. In Victorian culture, flowers were heavily laden with symbolic meaning, a coded language for expressing emotions. Roses, with their varied colors, could signify love, gratitude, or remembrance. Fantin-Latour’s choice to paint roses, and his attention to their delicate hues, opens up questions about the artist’s own sentiments and the emotions he wished to evoke in viewers. The painting’s intimate scale and soft lighting draw us into a close, personal encounter with the blooms, inviting contemplation on themes of beauty, fragility, and the passage of time. In a world increasingly dominated by factories, these roses offered a moment of quiet reflection. They still can.