Art connections: Monet’s Agapanthus, Les Fleurs Animées
Bulbs have long been the subject of art. Here are two examples, from the sublime to the somewhat ridiculous.
Claude Monet is probably most famous for his mural-sized paintings of water lilies, now on display at the Museum of Modern Art. But those paintings are sharing the stage this time with a less-famous but still inspired and inspiring painting of an Agapanthus, according to a review in the New York Times
“Agapanthus,” 1914-26, meanwhile, moves to dry land and a grassy green Art Nouveau swirl of the leaves and tiny, clustered mauve blooms of this plant, also known as the Lily of the Nile.
“Agapanthus,” which entered the museum’s collection in 1992, measures around 6 ½ by 6 feet. It is nonetheless a study, probably painted from life and then taken back to the studio to help in the execution of larger works that were in many ways less finished and descriptive.
According to a post one of my favorite visual blogs, BibliOdyssey (books, illustrations, science, history, visual materia obscura, and eclectic bookart) JJ Grandville’s Les Fleurs Animées (1847) is filled with “anthropomorphic figures of apparent whimsical innocence [that] are in fact serving as the visual arm of a satirical work that mocks the sentimentality and effusiveness with which flowers had been portrayed during the romantic era.”
I think they’re just plain fun. Can your students make their own ‘flower people’?
You can view more at BibliOdyssey or view the whole book at the Missouri Botanical Garden website.
Submitted on: September 27, 2009
By: Craig Cramer
Topics: General |