Flowers in a Vase and Two Plums 1800 - 1804

Anne Vallayer-Coster created this painting of flowers in a vase with two plums with oil on canvas. In France during the late 18th century, still life painting, like portraiture, was considered a lesser genre by the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. Artists like Vallayer-Coster had to be strategic in the way they presented their work to gain recognition. Though the Academy held strict views of what constituted serious art, Vallayer-Coster became a member in 1770. The image before us creates meaning through its muted colors, its oval shape, and its domestic subject matter. The effect is one of bourgeois intimacy and feminine accomplishment. To understand the meaning of this painting more fully, we can consult sources such as the writings of the Academy, which reveal some of the aesthetic and social assumptions of the time. By studying the institutions of art, we can see how the public role of art is always shaped by the politics of imagery.