Imperial Fritillaries in a Copper Vase

Vincent van Gogh

Oil on canvas

Musée d'Orsay

Imperial Fritillaries in a Copper Vase is an oil painting on canvas created by Vincent van Gogh in Paris in 1887, depicting a bouquet of vivid orange-red crown imperial fritillaries arranged in a gleaming copper vase set against a richly worked background of blue, green, and yellow hues. The composition is notable for Van Gogh's experimental blending of techniques: pointillist dabs in the background contrast with loose, directional Impressionist brushstrokes on the flowers and vase, reflecting his close engagement with the avant-garde circles of Paris during his residence there with his brother Theo from 1886 to 1888. Painted at a pivotal moment in his career, the work demonstrates his evolving command of color theory and his ambition, as he himself stated, to render "intense colour and not a grey harmony." The painting is signed by Van Gogh in the upper left corner — a distinction, as he signed only approximately 130 of his roughly 900 works — and has been held in the collection of the Musée d'Orsay, Paris, since its bequest by Count Isaac de Camondo in 1911.