In this bouquet, Redon combined palm fronds with artificial or imaginary flowers in a fantastical blue and ochre color scheme. The title identifies the vase as Etruscan, but it was likely a modern ceramic imitating an ancient example from the Mediterranean region.
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Credit Line:Maria DeWitt Jesup Fund, 1951; acquired from The Museum of Modern Art, Lillie P. Bliss Collection
Object Number:53.140.5
Odilon Redon, Paris (?1900–d. 1916); his wife, Camille Redon, Paris (1916–17; sent on consignment to Carroll); [Carroll Galleries, New York, 1917; sold in February for Fr 1,800 to Quinn]; John Quinn, New York (1917–d. 1924; his estate 1924–26; Cat., 1926 p. 14); Lillie P. Bliss, New York (1925–d. 1931, bequeathed to the Museum of Modern Art); Museum of Modern Art, New York (1931–51; Cats., 1942, no. 511, and 1948, no. 634; sold in 1951 to The Met)
New York. Armory of the Sixty-ninth Regiment. "International Exhibition of Modern Art (The Armory Show)," February 17–March 15, 1913, not in catalogue [see Rewald 1961].
Art Institute of Chicago. "International Exhibition of Modern Art (The Armory Show)," March 24–April 16, 1913, not in catalogue [see Rewald 1961].
Copley Hall, Copley Society of Boston. "International Exhibition of Modern Art (The Armory Show)," April 28–May 19, 1913, not in catalogue [see Rewald 1961].
New York. Carroll Galleries. "Second Exhibition of Works by Contemporary French Artists," January 25–February 13, 1915, no. 17 (as "Etruscan Vase" [tempera painting]).
Indianapolis. John Herron Art Institute. "Paintings by Odilon Redon . . .," April 6–May 2, 1915, no. 11 (lent by Carroll Galleries) [see Sterling and Salinger 1967].
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Loan Exhibition of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings," May 3–September 15, 1921, no. 92 (lent by John Quinn).
New York. Museum of French Art, French Institute. "Odilon Redon," April 3–May 1, 1922, no. 2 (lent by John Quinn).
Brooklyn Museum. "Summer Exhibition of Modern French and American Painters," June 12–October 14, 1926, no catalogue (lent by Miss. L. P. Bliss) [see Reynolds 1977].
New York. de Hauke & Co. "Exhibition of Paintings, Pastels, Drawings, Water Colours, Lithographs by Odilon Redon," November 1928, no. 16 (lent anonymously).
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Tenth Loan Exhibition: Lautrec and Redon," February 1–March 2, 1931, no. 84 (lent by a private collection, New York).
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Memorial Exhibition: The Collection of the Late Miss Lizzie P. Bliss, Vice-President of the Museum," May 17–September 27, 1931, no. 117 (bequeathed to Museum of Modern Art).
Andover, Mass. Addison Gallery of American Art. "The Collection of Miss Lizzie P. Bliss: Fourth Loan Exhibition," October 17–December 15, 1931, no. 91 (bequeathed to the Museum of Modern Art, New York).
Indianapolis. John Herron Art Institute. "Modern Masters from the Collection of Miss Lizzie P. Bliss," January 1932, no. 87.
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "The Collection of Miss Lizzie P. Bliss," May 17–September 27, 1932, no. 87 [see Wildenstein 1996].
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Fruit and Flower Paintings," March 13–April 7, 1933, no catalogue [see Wildenstein 1996].
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "The Lillie P. Bliss Collection," May 14–September 12, 1934, no. 50 (in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York).
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Modern Works of Art," November 20, 1934–January 20, 1935, no. 21 (in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York).
Pittsburgh. Carnegie Museum of Art. "Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings, and Water Colors from the Lillie P. Bliss Collection," March–April 10, 1935, no catalogue?
Washington. Museum of Modern Art Gallery. "Flowers and Fruits," March 29–April 24, 1938, no. 43 (as "Etruscan Vase").
Washington. Phillips Memorial Gallery. "The Functions of Color in Painting," February 16–March 23, 1941, no. 143 (lent by the Museum of Modern Art).
Cincinnati Art Museum. "Pictures for Peace: A Retrospective Exhibition Organized from the Armory Show of 1913," March 18–April 16, 1944, no. 28 (lent by the Museum of Modern Art).
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Les fauves," October 8, 1952–January 4, 1953, no. 7 (lent by the Museum of Modern Art).
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "Les fauves," January 21–February 22, 1953, no. 7 (lent by the Museum of Modern Art).
San Francisco Museum of Art. "Les fauves," March 13–April 12, 1953, no. 7 (lent by the Museum of Modern Art).
Art Gallery of Toronto. "Les fauves," May 1–31, 1953, no. 7 (lent by the Museum of Modern Art).
Paris. Orangerie des Tuileries. "Odilon Redon," October 25, 1956–January 25, 1957, no. 184 (as "Vase étrusque").
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Odilon Redon, Gustave Moreau, Rodolphe Bresdin," December 4, 1961–February 4, 1962, no. 26 (as "Etruscan Vase").
Art Institute of Chicago. "Odilon Redon, Gustave Moreau, Rodolphe Bresdin," March 2–April 15, 1962, no. 26.
Utica. Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. "1913 Armory Show, 50th Anniversary Exhibition," February 17–March 31, 1963, no. (*) (p. 202, ill. p. 65).
New York. Armory of the Sixty-ninth Regiment. "1913 Armory Show, 50th Anniversary Exhibition," April 6–28, 1963, no. (*).
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Masterpieces of Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 16–November 1, 1970, unnumbered cat. (as "Etruscan Vase with Flowers").
Washington. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution. "'The Noble Buyer': John Quinn, Patron of the Avant-Garde," June 15–September 4, 1978, unnumbered cat. (as "Etruscan Vase").
Bordeaux. Galerie des Beaux-Arts. "Odilon Redon, 1840–1916," May 10–September 1, 1985, no. 170 (as "Le vase étrusque avec des fleurs").
Art Institute of Chicago. "Odilon Redon: Prince of Dreams, 1840–1916," July 2–September 18, 1994, no. 169 (as "The Etruscan Vase").
Amsterdam. Van Gogh Museum. "Odilon Redon: Prince of Dreams, 1840–1916," October 20, 1994–January 15, 1995, no. 169.
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Odilon Redon: Prince of Dreams, 1840–1916," February 16–May 21, 1995, no. 169.
Dallas Museum of Art. "Bouquets: French Still-Life Painting from Chardin to Matisse," October 26, 2014–February 8, 2015, no. 61.
Richmond. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. "Van Gogh, Manet, and Matisse: The Art of the Flower," March 21–June 21, 2015, no. 61.
Denver Art Museum. "In Bloom: Painting Flowers in the Age of Impressionism," July 19–October 11, 2015, no. 61.
Walter Pach. Letter to John Quinn. October 9, 1916 [published in Perlman 2002], notes that he is writing to Madame Redon to ask about quarterly payments for a selection of paintings by her late husband.
Walter Pach. Letter to John Quinn. February 11, 1917 [published in Perlman 2002], states that Madame Redon accepts proposition of quarterly payments and that she reported Redon's prices were rising in Paris.
John Quinn. Letter to Walter Pach. February 16, 1917 [published in Perlman 2002], states that he has chosen six Redons, including "Etruscan Vase (tempera)" with the artist's price of $1,800; confirms that he will pay quarterly.
Walter Pach. Letter to John Quinn. April 24, 1917 [published in Perlman 2002], restates agreed upon price.
Walter Pach. Letter to John Quinn. May 23, 1920 [published in Perlman 2002], in seeing Quinn's Redons with a fresh eye at The Met's exhibition, notes that they are "exquisite, great, important things".
The Editor. "The Metropolitan French Show." The Arts 1 (May 1921), pp. 16–17, ill., as in the collection of John Quinn.
Walter Pach. Letter to John Quinn. December 21, 1921 [published in Perlman 2002].
Louise Gebhard Gann. "The Metaphor of Redon." International Studio 78 (November 1923), p. 104, ill.
John Quinn, 1870–1925: Collection of Paintings, Water Colors, Drawings & Sculpture. Huntington, N.Y., 1926, p. 14, erroneously calls it an oil painting.
"Art of the Moderns in a Notable Show." New York Times (July 4, 1926), p. SM25.
Katharine Grant Sterne. "Odilon Redon Viewed Again." Parnassus 3 (March 1931), p. 9.
"She Fought the Battle for Modern Art." Literary Digest 109 (June 6, 1931), p. 18, ill.
Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 81.
Sven Sandström. Le monde imaginaire d'Odilon Redon. Lund, 1955, pp. 167–68, fig. 132, dates it 1900–1905; notes the influence of Gauguin in the line, color, composition, and decorative unity.
John Rewald. Odilon Redon, Gustave Moreau, Rodolphe Bresdin. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1961, pp. 48–49 nn. 86–87, pp. 70, 173, no. 26, ill., dates it 1900–1905; remarks that it could have been exhibited in the 1913 Armory Show, noting that the title could have been changed and may have been catalogued as one of the flower pieces or simply not have appeared in the catalogue.
Klaus Berger. Odilon Redon: Fantasy and Colour. New York, 1965, p. 204, no. 311, dates it about or after 1912.
Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 3, XIX–XX Centuries. New York, 1967, pp. 11–12, ill., state that Bacou dates it about 1910; mention that it illustrates Redon's method of basing his work on both direct representation and memory; remark that real and imaginary flowers are mingled in the bouquet recalling the fantastic flowers invented by Jean Baptiste Pillement.
Edith A. Standen inMasterpieces of Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. New York, [1970], p. 91, ill. (color), dates it about 1910; identifies the vase as ancient Greek, rather than Etruscan, or an imitation.
Richard Hobbs. Odilon Redon. Boston, 1977, pp. 143, 183, no. 96, ill., dates it 1900–1905.
Judith Zilczer. "The Noble Buyer:" John Quinn, Patron of the Avant-Garde. Exh. cat., Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution. Washington, 1978, p. 181, dates it 1912.
Michael Wilson. Nature and Imagination: The Work of Odilon Redon. Oxford, 1978, pp. 76, 78, fig. 68, dates it about 1910; remarks that Redon seems to "emulate Gauguin's 'primitive' decorative mode of composition".
Roseline Bacou. Odilon Redon: 1840–1916. Exh. cat., Galerie des Beaux-Arts. Bordeaux, 1985, p. 185, no. 170, ill., dates it between 1900 and 1910.
Gloria Groom and MaryAnne Stevens in Douglas Druick. Redon: Prince of Dreams, 1840–1916. Exh. cat., Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, 1994, pp. 293, 325, 448, no. 169, fig. 39 (color), dates it about 1912; mentions that this work seems to be directly related to the large mural "Night" (Abbaye de Fontfroide).
Kirk Varnedoe. Studies in Modern Art. The Museum of Modern Art at Mid-Century: Continuity and Change. Ed. John Elderfield. Vol. 5, The Evolving Torpedo: Changing Ideas of the Collection of Painting and Sculpture of The Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1995, pp. 50–51, 56, 58–59, 61–62.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 471, ill.
Alec Wildenstein. Odilon Redon: Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre peint et dessiné. Vol. 3, Fleurs et paysages. Paris, 1996, pp. 8–9 (overleaf), pp. 128–29, no. 1547, ill. (color and black and white).
Rebecca A. Rabinow. "Modern Art Comes to the Metropolitan: The 1921 Exhibition of 'Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings'." Apollo 152 (October 2000), p. 11.
Bennard B. Perlman. American Artists, Authors, and Collectors: The Walter Pach Letters, 1906–1958. Albany, 2002, pp. 279, 281, 284, 286 n. 1, pp. 298, 305, 310–311.
Heather MacDonald inWorking among Flowers: Floral Still-Life Painting in Nineteenth-Century France. Ed. Heather MacDonald and Mitchell Merling. Exh. cat., Dallas Museum of Art. Dallas, 2014, pp. 160, 162 n. 5, no. 61, ill. (color), observes that the "decorative flatness of the bouquet—which combines palm fronds with artificial or imaginary flowers—is amplified by the zones of stippling that fill the canvas around the flowers and by Redon's unusual matte tempera medium"; notes that the vase "is a reminder of the contemporary association between Etruscan style and an expressive primitivism, most famously expressed in Vaslav Nijinsky's 1912 ballet 'Afternoon of a Faun'".
Audrey Gay-Mazuel inWorking among Flowers: Floral Still-Life Painting in Nineteenth-Century France. Ed. Heather MacDonald and Mitchell Merling. Exh. cat., Dallas Museum of Art. Dallas, 2014, p. 54, identifies the vase as "a modern ceramic imitating antique Greek red-figure" models, which was "sold to tourists," despite its description as Etruscan in the painting's title.
Martin Gammon. Deaccessioning and Its Discontents: A Critical History. Cambridge, Mass., 2018, p. 322.
Irene M. Walsh. Lillie P. Bliss: Collector, Advocate, and Visionary Benefactor of the Museum of Modern Art. London, 2025, pp. 27, 58, 64, 104, 158.
From 1931 to 1934 the credit line of this picture was "Bequeathed to the Museum of Modern Art"; it was changed in 1934 to "The Museum of Modern Art, The Lillie P. Bliss Collection."
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