In May 1890, just before his departure from the asylum in Saint-Rémy, Van Gogh painted an exceptional group of four still lifes, to which both the Museum's "Roses" and "Irises" (58.187) belong. Striking in their facility of execution and elegant simplicity of design, these bouquets and their counterparts—an upright composition of irises (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam) and a horizontal composition of roses (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.)—were conceived as a decorative ensemble, like the suite of sunflowers he had made earlier in Arles. Traces of pink along the tabletop and rose petals in the present painting, which have faded over time, offer a faint reminder of the formerly vivid "canvas of pink roses against a yellow green background in a green vase."

the artist's mother, Anna van Gogh-Carbentus, Leiden (until d. 1907; her estate, 1907–8; sold by her daughter-in-law Johanna van Gogh-Bonger with two other paintings for 8,150 guilders to Cassirer); [Cassirer, Berlin, 1908; sold in March for 9,000 marks to Oppenheim]; Mr. and Mrs. Franz Oppenheim, Berlin (1908–his d. 1929); his widow, Margarete Oppenheim, Berlin (1929–d. 1935; her estate; thought to have been sold in or after November 1935, when it was on the market for 130,000 marks, to Hirschland); Georg Simon Hirschland, Essen, later Scarsdale, N.Y. (by 1938–d. 1942; in 1939, the year following his emigration, the painting entered the collection of the Folkwang Museum, Essen, where it remained until evacuated to a mine in Siegen toward the end of the Second World War, whereupon it was recovered and transferred to the Allied Central Collecting Points in Marburg [June 1945], Wiesdbaden [August 1946], and the British Zone [October 1948] until repatriated to the Hirschland family, New York; apparently sold through Myrtil Frank, New York, in early 1951 for $100,000 to Wildenstein); [Wildenstein, New York, 1951; sold in March for $135,000 to Lasker]; Mr. and Mrs. Albert D. Lasker, New York (1951–his d. 1952); his widow, Mrs. Mary Lasker, New York (1952–77; sold on January 3, 1977, with two paintings by Renoir, "Geraniums and Cats" and "Boating (Young Girl in a Boat)," to Marlborough); [Marlborough International Fine Art, London and New York, 1977–78; sold on April 21 to Annenberg]; Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, Rancho Mirage, California (1978–93; jointly with MMA, 1993–his d. 2002)

Amsterdam. Stedelijk Museum. "Tentoonstelling van Schilderijen en Teekeningen door Vincent van Gogh," July–August 1905, no. 157 (as "Rozen," lent by Mevrouw de Wed. van Gogh, Leiden) [see Refs. Feilchenfeldt 1988 and Sterling and Salinger 1967].

Paris. Bernheim-Jeune. "Cent tableaux de Vincent van Gogh," January 6–February 1, 1908, no. 86 (as "Roses au pot vert") [see Ref. Feilchenfeldt 1988].

Berlin. Paul Cassirer. "VII. Ausstellung," March 5–22, 1908, no. 19 (as "Rosen") [see Ref. Feilchenfeldt 1988].

Berlin. Paul Cassirer. "Vincent van Gogh: Zehnte Ausstellung," May–June 1914, no. 134 (as "Rosen," lent by Geheimrat Dr. F. Oppenheim, Berlin).

Berlin. Paul Cassirer. "Vincent van Gogh: Gemälde," January 15–March 1, 1928, no. 71 (as "Weisse Rosen," lent by a private collector, Berlin).

New York. Wildenstein. "Masterpieces from Museums and Private Collections," November 8–December 15, 1951, no. 55 (as "White Roses," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Albert D. Lasker).

Paris. Orangerie des Tuileries. "La Nature morte de l'antiquité à nos jours," April 16–June 1952, no. 102 (as "Roses blanches," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Albert D. Lasker, New York).

Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. "An Exhibition of Sixty-Nine Paintings from the Collection of Mrs. Albert D. Lasker," March 6–29, 1953, no. 37 (as "White Roses").

San Francisco. California Palace of the Legion of Honor. "An Exhibition of Sixty-Seven Paintings from the Collection of Mrs. Albert D. Lasker," March 17–April 4, 1954, no. 35 (as "White Roses").

Santa Barbara, Calif. Santa Barbara Museum of Art. "Fruits and Flowers in Painting: An Exhibition Spanning Five Centuries of Art in the Western World," August 12–September 14, 1958, no. 52 (as "White Roses," lent by Mrs. Albert D. Lasker, New York).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paintings from Private Collections: Summer Loan Exhibition," July 7–September 7, 1959, no. 54 (as "White Roses," lent by Mrs. Albert D. Lasker).

New York. Wildenstein. "Olympia's Progeny," October 28–November 27, 1965, no. 60 (as "Les Roses blanches," lent by Mrs. Albert D. Lasker).

New York. Christie, Manson & Woods. "Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Their Circle," November 14–30, 1968, no. 15 (as "White Roses," lent by Mrs. Albert D. Lasker).

Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," May 21–September 17, 1989, unnumbered cat.

Washington. National Gallery of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," May 6–August 5, 1990, unnumbered cat.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," August 16–November 11, 1990, unnumbered cat.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," June 4–October 13, 1991, unnumbered cat.

Vincent van Gogh. Letter to his brother Theo. [June 24, 1890] [English transl. published in "The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh," Greenwich, Conn., 1958, vol. 3, p. 288, letter no. 644], mentions that several of his canvases, including this one, have just arrived in Auvers from Saint-Rémy.

Vincent van Gogh. Letter to his brother Theo. [May 13, 1890] [English transl. published in "The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh," Greenwich, Conn., 1958, vol. 3, p. 270, letter no. 634], writes that he has "just finished another canvas of pink roses against a yellow-green background in a green vase," referring to this picture.

Vincent van Gogh. Letters to his sister Willemien. [about May 20–June 5, 1890] [English transl. published in "The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh," Greenwich, Conn., 1958, vol. 3, pp. 469–70, letter nos. W21, W22], writes that he worked in a frenzy on bunches of flowers, including roses, at the end of his stay in Saint-Rémy.

Vincent van Gogh. Letter to J. J. Isaäcson. [between May 16 and 20, 1890] [English transl. published in "The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh," Greenwich, Conn., 1958, vol. 3, p. 232, letter no. 614a].

Julius Meier-Graefe. Entwicklungsgeschichte der Modernen Kunst. Stuttgart, 1904, vol. 1, p. 119 n. 1, states that it is owned by van Gogh's mother.

Lettres de Vincent van Gogh à Émile Bernard. Paris, 1911, pl. 93, as "Les Roses".

Julius Meier-Graefe. Vincent. Munich, 1921, vol. 1, p. 219; vol. 2, pl. 94 [English ed., "Vincent van Gogh," London, 1922, vol. 2, pl. 94; later English ed., New York, 1933, pl. 54], as "Rosenstilleben".

Gustave Coquiot. Vincent van Gogh. Paris, 1923, p. 317, as "Roses au pot vert".

J.-B. de La Faille. L'Epoque française de Van Gogh. Paris, 1927, p. 60.

J.-B. de La Faille. L'Oeuvre de Vincent van Gogh: Catalogue Raisonné. Paris, 1928, vol. 1, p. 194, no. 682; vol. 2, pl. 192, calls it "Les Roses blanches" and dates it May 1890.

Fritz Knapp. Vincent van Gogh. Bielefeld, 1930, p. 56, pl. 33, as "Weisse Rosen".

W. Scherjon. Catalogue des tableaux par Vincent van Gogh décrits dans ses lettres. Périodes: St. Rémy et Auvers sur Oise. Utrecht, 1932, p. 114, no. 113, ill., as "Roses dans un vase vert".

Walter Pach. Vincent van Gogh, 1853–1890. New York, 1936, pl. 6.

Alexander Dorner. Vincent van Gogh: Blumen und Landschaften. Berlin, 1937, p. 16, colorpl. 5, as in a private collection, Berlin.

W. Scherjon and Jos. De Gruyter. Vincent van Gogh's Great Period: Arles, St. Rémy and Auvers sur Oise (complete catalogue). Amsterdam, 1937, p. 304, St. Rémy no. 113, ill., as "Pink Roses in Green Vase".

J.-B. de La Faille. Vincent van Gogh. London, [1939], pp. 485, 560, 581, 588, no. 703, ill., as in the collection of G. Hirschland, Essen.

Thomas Carr Howe, Jr. Salt Mines and Castles: The Discovery and Restitution of Looted European Art. Indianapolis, 1946, p. 232, describes seeing this picture at the Allied Central Collecting Point in Marburg, Germany among works of art from German museums that had been recovered from safekeeping in mines.

John E. Cross. Vincent van Gogh. New York, 1947, no. 22, ill. (color).

W. Sandberg. "Rembrandt, Hokousaï, Van Gogh." Verve 7, nos. 27–28 (1952), ill. p. 56 (color).

Charles Sterling. La Nature morte de l'antiquité à nos jours. Paris, 1952, p. 104, pl. 100 [English ed., New York 1959, pp. 114–15, pl. 100].

Jean Leymarie. Van Gogh: Arles, Saint-Rémy. Paris, 1956, unpaginated, colorpl. 15.

John Rewald. Post-Impressionism: From Van Gogh to Gauguin. 1st ed. New York, 1956, pp. 380, 383, ill. p. 381(color) [3rd, rev. ed., 1978, pp. 354–55, ill. p. 351 (color)].

Wallace Brockway. The Albert D. Lasker Collection: Renoir to Matisse. New York, [1957], p. 27, ill. p. 28 (color).

Peter Selz in Fruits and Flowers in Painting: An Exhibition Spanning Five Centuries of Art in the Western World. Exh. cat., Santa Barbara Museum of Art. [Santa Barbara, Calif.], 1958, pp. 10, 22, no. 52, ill., as "White Roses".

"Collector's Prize." Time 71 (January 6, 1958), pp. 38–39, ill.

Edward R. Murrow Mary Lasker in Interview between Edward R. Murrow and Mary Lasker. May 22, 1959 [published online through the Lasker Foundation website, http://www.laskerfoundation.org/about/murrow.html, accessed 2/11/08], states that Albert D. Lasker bought it in 1951.

John T. Mason Jr. Mary Lasker in Interview between John T. Mason Jr. and Mary Lasker. November 1, 1963 [interview conducted under the auspices of the Columbia University Libraries Oral History Research Office, pt. 1, session 23, pp. 712–13, published online at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/collections/nny/laskerm/index.html, accessed 2/11/08], recounts Albert D. Lasker's purchase of this painting from Wildenstein.

J.-B. de La Faille. The Works of Vincent van Gogh: His Paintings and Drawings. Amsterdam, 1970, pp. 267, 638, no. 682, ill., as "Still Life: Roses in Green Pot"; lists some early provenance information that conflicts with that of Feilchenfeldt [Ref. 1988].

Paolo Lecaldano. "Da Arles a Auvers." L'opera pittorica completa di Van Gogh e i suoi nessi grafici. 2, repr. [1st ed., 1966]. Milan, 1971–77, p. 229, no. 793, ill. p. 226.

Matthias Arnold. "Duktus und Bildform bei Vincent van Gogh." PhD diss., Ruprecht-Karl University, Heidelberg, 1973, pp. 121, 188 nn. 215, 219, p. 192 n. 346.

Jan Hulsker. The Complete Van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches. [1st ed., Amsterdam, 1977]. New York, 1980, pp. 450, 452, no. 1979, ill. p. 453, as "Vase with Pink Roses".

Bogomila Welsh-Ovcharov. Vincent van Gogh and the Birth of Cloisonism. Exh. cat., Art Gallery of Ontario. Toronto, 1981, p. 158.

Ronald Pickvance The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Van Gogh in Saint-Rémy and Auvers. New York, 1986, pp. 72, 187, fig. 46.

Walter Feilchenfeldt. Vincent van Gogh & Paul Cassirer, Berlin: The Reception of Van Gogh in Germany from 1901 to 1914. Zwolle, The Netherlands, 1988, pp. 27, 29, 112, 141, 146, 150, 155, 157, ill. pp. 64 (color) and 112.

Colin B. Bailey. "La Collection Annenberg." L'Oeil nos. 408–9 (July–August 1989), colorpl. 9.

Catherine Barnett. "A Very Private View: Inside Walter Annenberg's Personal Paradise." Art & Antiques 6 (March 1989), pp. 96, 99, ill. p. 97 (color).

Judith Bumpus. Van Gogh's Flowers. Oxford, 1989, pp. 19, 45, colorpl. 10.

Walter Feilchenfeldt. "Van Gogh Fakes: The Wacker Affair, with an Illustrated Catalogue of the Forgeries." Simiolus 19, no. 4 (1989), p. 308, ill., identifies a forged van Gogh (F 681bis) painted after our work while it was in the Oppenheim collection, Berlin.

Roland Dorn in Vincent van Gogh and the Modern Movement: 1890–1914. Exh. cat., Museum Folkwang, Essen. Freren, Germany, 1990, pp. 144, 175 n. 2.

Walter Feilchenfeldt in Vincent van Gogh and the Modern Movement: 1890–1914. Exh. cat., Museum Folkwang, Essen. Freren, Germany, 1990, p. 44, states that Cassirer bought it from Van Gogh's mother's estate and sold it to Fritz Oppenheim.

Jan Hulsker. Vincent and Theo van Gogh: A Dual Biography. Trans. and rev. ed. [1st ed. Weesp, Holland, 1985]. Ann Arbor, Mich., 1990, p. 414.

Evert van Uitert et al. Vincent van Gogh: Paintings. Exh. cat., Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam. Milan, 1990, p. 254.

Jérôme Coignard. "Le Salon de peinture de Mr. et Mrs. Annenberg." Beaux arts no. 92 (July–August 1991), p. 72.

Charles S. Moffett in Art for the Nation: Gifts in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1991, p. 238.

Joseph J. Rishel in Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection. Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, 1991, pp. 110–11, 201–2, ill. (color and black and white), discusses the coloration of the roses, and the partial fading of pigment from pink to white, noting that the change probably began early on.

Gary Tinterow. "Miracle au Met." Connaissance des arts no. 472 (June 1991), pp. 39, 41, ill. (color).

Jan Hulsker. Vincent van Gogh: A Guide to His Work and Letters. Amsterdam, 1993, pp. 42, 57–58, 76, dates letter no. 644 to June 24 or 25, 1890, letter no. W21 to about May 20, 1890, and letter no. W22 to about June 5, 1890; lists all the works mentioned in the letters, and corrects passages of the French to English translation [see Refs. van Gogh 1890].

Susan Alyson Stein in "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 1993–1994." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 52 (Fall 1994), p. 52, ill. p. 53 (color).

Matthias Arnold. Vincent van Gogh: Werk und Wirkung. Munich, 1995, pp. 290–91.

Jan Hulsker. The New Complete Van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches. rev. ed. Amsterdam, 1996, pp. 450, 452, 496, no. 1979, ill. p. 453, as "Vase with Pink Roses".

Ira Berkow. "Jewels in the Desert." Art News 97 (May 1998), p. 147, ill. (color, installation photo).

Cynthia Saltzman. Portrait of Dr. Gachet: The Story of a Van Gogh Masterpiece. New York, 1998, pp. 110, 234, states that Cassirer sold it for DM 9,000 in March 1908.

Colin B. Bailey and John Collins. Van Gogh's Irises: Masterpiece in Focus. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Canada. Ottawa, 1999, p. 18.

Bogomila Welsh-Ovcharov. Van Gogh in Provence and Auvers. [New York], 1999, ill. p. 225 (color).

Ronald Pickvance. Van Gogh. Exh. cat., Fondation Pierre Gianadda. Martigny, 2000, pp. 59, 63, 112, 115.

David Grossvogel. Behind the Van Gogh Forgeries: A Memoir. San Jose, Calif., 2001, p. 134.

Chris Stolwijk and Han Veenenbos. The Account Book of Theo van Gogh and Jo van Gogh-Bonger. Amsterdam, 2002, pp. 148, 184, ill., identify it as one of three paintings sold by Van Gogh-Bonger for 8,150 guilders to Paul Cassirer in 1908, noting that Van Gogh-Bonger recorded only one of these works ("Garden"; F814; private collection) in her account book, since the other two (this work and "Irises"; F680; MMA, 58.187) came from the estate of her mother-in-law, Anna Van Gogh-Carbentus, who had died in 1907.

Walter Feilchenfeldt. By Appointment Only: Cézanne, Van Gogh and Some Secrets of Art Dealing. English ed. London, 2006, p. 64, ill. p. 101 (color), as "Roses" and "Roses in a Terracotta Pot"; identifies it as the painting copied by Otto Wacker for a fake Van Gogh (F681bis) and suggests that Wacker might have had access to our painting, since it was then in the Oppenheim collection, Berlin.

Zsuzsa Gonda in Van Gogh in Budapest. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts. Budapest, 2006, pp. 358-59.

Laura Ann Coyle. "The Still-Life Paintings of Vincent van Gogh and Their Context." PhD diss., Princeton University, September 2007, pp. 476–79, fig. 7.12, the reproduction is identified as 7.12 in the text, but misnumbered as 7.11 in the illustration section.

Stefan Koldehoff in Van Gogh and Expressionism. Exh. cat., Neue Galerie New York. Ostfildern, 2007, p. 171, states that Cassirer sold it to Franz and Margaret Oppenheim, Berlin, for 9,000 DM in March 1908.

Susan Alyson Stein in Masterpieces of European Painting, 1800–1920, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, pp. 174–75, 260–61, no. 163, ill. (color and black and white).

Gary Tinterow in Masterpieces of European Painting, 1800–1920, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, fig. 17 (installation photo, color).

Joseph J. Rishel in Masterpieces of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection. 4th rev. ed. [1st ed., 1989]. New York, 2009, pp. ix, 225–28, no. 42, ill. (color) and p. vi (installation photo).

Susan Alyson Stein in Masterpieces of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection. 4th rev. ed. [1st ed., 1989]. New York, 2009, pp. 221, 233–34.

This picture was photographed by Eugène Druet (pl. 68, no. 40/50–7218, ca. 1900–1910, collection Le fonds Druet-Vizzavona, Médiathèque de l’architecture et du patrimoine, Fort de Saint-Cyr, Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France), probably during Exh. Paris 1908.