Irises in White Vase

Irises in a White Vase was painted by Vincent Van Gogh in 1890, during the final months of his life. It depicts a vibrant bouquet of blue irises in a white vase against a yellow background. Measuring 92cm by 73.5 cm, this oil on canvas work highlights Van Gogh’s masterful use of intense color and expressive brushstrokes.
Van Gogh was passionate about flowers and painted them frequently. He found irises and sunflowers particularly captivating. Painting floral still lifes gave Van Gogh an opportunity to experiment with color and, in the Irises, the shades of blue and purple in the petals are rendered with poetic intensity. The gestural brushstrokes imbue the flowers with a sense of movement and life.
Some of Van Gogh’s other famous floral paintings include his Sunflowers series, completed between 1888 to 1889. Like the Irises, these works feature Van Gogh’s signature thick application of paint and expressive style. Van Gogh only sold one painting during his lifetime, The Red Vineyard, in 1888. His paintings have since become iconic and synonymous with Post-Impressionism. Tragically, Van Gogh committed suicide at the young age of 37, never knowing the artistic genius the world would come to recognize in him.
The Irises are part of the Van Gogh collection at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. They are a testament to the profound emotion and vision Van Gogh brought to every subject he painted during his brief but prolific career. The Irises remain an eternal reminder of Van Gogh’s mastery of and passion for color.