Flowers in a Vase
- Artist: Rachel Ruysch
- Date: about 1685
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Museum: The National Gallery
- Collection record: The National Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the "Flowers in a Vase" by Rachel Ruysch. Painted in the late seventeenth century, it's one of her most famous works and showcases her skill as a flower painter.
You'll notice that the bouquet has a mix of flowers from spring and summer, including peonies, hawthorn, honeysuckle, and columbine. The lilies add a pop of burnt orange and deep green to the arrangement. The light on the pale flowers sweeps upwards, making them luminous.
The delicate brushstrokes seem to skim over the surface of the picture, giving the impression that the flowers are floating in darkness. The plump green pistil at the centre of the peony helps anchor it to the vase.
Ruysch's father was a botanist and keeper of Amsterdam's botanical garden, which gave her firsthand knowledge of the flowers she painted. She was one of the most successful flower painters of her time, known for her attention to detail and ability to capture the essence of each bloom.
The painting is done in oil on canvas, and it's estimated to have been made around 1685.
See it in person
Flowers in a Vase hangs in The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
