Renoir felt that he had greater freedom to experiment in still lifes than in figure paintings. "When I paint flowers, I feel free to try out tones and values and worry less about destroying the canvas," he told the writer Georges Rivière. "I would not do this with a figure painting since there I would care about destroying the work."
Credit Line:The Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Collection, Bequest of Walter H. Annenberg, 2002
Object Number:2003.20.10
Inscription: Signed (lower right): Renoir.
the artist, Paris (until 1901, sold on June 11 for Fr 2,500 to Durand-Ruel); [Durand-Ruel, Paris; 1901–9; stock no. 6434; sold on April 1, 1909 for Fr 5,000 to Bernstein]; Henry Bernstein, Paris (from 1909); [Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, 1910; stock no. 18201; purchased on June 18 for Fr 3,500; sold on October 8 to Laroche]; J. Laroche, Paris (from 1910); Jos Hessel, Paris (before 1920); Dikran G. Kelekian, Paris and New York (by 1920–at least 1922; his sale, American Art Association, New York, January 30–31, 1922, no. 134, bought in by Durand-Ruel as agent for $4,400); Mr. and Mrs. Myron C. Taylor, New York (by 1937–his d. 1959; Myron and Anabel Taylor Foundation, 1959–60; sold in August 1960 to Wildenstein); [Wildenstein, New York, 1960–61; sold June 8, 1961 to Annenberg]; Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, Rancho Mirage, Calif. (1961–his d. 2002)
Paris. Galeries Durand-Ruel. "Exposition A. Renoir," May 1892, no. 33 (as "Chrysanthèmes").
Berlin. Galerie Cassirer. "Renoir," December 1901, no. 15.
Paris. Galeries Durand-Ruel. "Exposition de natures mortes par Monet, Cézanne, Renoir...," April–May 1908, no. 44 (as "Vase de fleurs").
Brooklyn Museum. "Paintings by Modern French Masters, Representing the Post Impressionists and Their Predecessors," March 26–April 25, 1921, not in catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Loan Exhibition of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings," May 3–September 15, 1921, no. 109 (as "Chrysanthemums," lent anonymously [annotated in pencil "Kelekian"]).
Arts Club of Chicago. "A Selected Group of American and French Paintings," November 21–December 12, 1921, no. 37 (as "Chrysanthemums," lent by Dikran Kelekian).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Renoir: A Special Exhibition of His Paintings," May 18–September 12, 1937, no. 31 (as "Chrysanthemums," lent by Mrs. Myron C. Taylor).
New York. Marie Harriman Gallery. "Flowers: Fourteen American, Fourteen French Artists," April 8–May 4, 1940, no. 24 (as "Bouquet de Chrysanthèmes," lent by Mrs. Myron C. Taylor).
New York. Duveen Galleries. "Renoir, Centennial Loan Exhibition, 1841-1941," November 8–December 6, 1941, no. 34 (as "Chrysanthèmes [sic]," lent by Mrs. Myron C. Taylor, New York).
New York. Wildenstein. "Renoir," March 23–April 29, 1950, no. 32 (as "Chrysanthemums," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Myron C. Taylor).
New York. Wildenstein. "Magic of Flowers in Painting," April 13–May 15, 1954, no. 62 (as "Chrysanthemums," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Myron C. Taylor).
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "A World of Flowers," May 2–June 9, 1963, unnumbered cat. (p. 148; as "Bouquet of Chrysanthemums," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Walter H. Annenberg, Wynnewood, Pa.).
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Summer Loan Collections," July 4–September 2, 1963, no catalogue.
New York. Wildenstein. "Renoir: In Commemoration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Renoir's Death," March 27–May 3, 1969, no. 94 (lent by Ambassador and Mrs. Walter H. Annenberg).
London. Tate Gallery. "The Annenberg Collection," September 2–October 8, 1969, no. 27.
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.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Public Parks, Private Gardens: Paris to Provence," March 12–July 29, 2018, unnumbered cat.
THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT, BY TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION BY THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART.
Arsène Alexandre. Collection Kélékian: Tableaux de l'école française moderne. Paris, 1920, unpaginated, pl. 58
, as previously in the collection of M. Jos Hessèle [sic].
"Cézanne Leads the French Modernists." New York Times (February 1, 1922), p. 27, lists the picture as number 134 in the Kelekian auction that year and notes that it sold for $4,400 to Durand-Ruel.
"Entire Kelekian Art Collection Brings $254,870." New York Herald (February 1, 1922), p. 8.
François Fosca. Renoir. Paris, 1923, p. 62, pl. 30, tentatively dates it 1901.
Harry B. Wehle. Renoir: A Special Exhibition of His Paintings. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1937, unpaginated, no. 31, ill., dates it about 1880–82.
Alfred M. Frankfurter. Renoir, Centennial Loan Exhibition, 1841–1941. Exh. cat., Duveen Galleries. New York, 1941, p. 138, no. 34, ill. p. 56, dates it 1880–82.
Renoir. Exh. cat., New York Wildenstein. 1950, p. 41, no. 32, ill. p. 54, dates it 1881.
M. Roy Fisher. The Annenberg Collection. Exh. cat., Tate Gallery. London, 1969, unpaginated, no. 27, ill. (color), dates it 1881.
Elda Fezzi. L'opera completa di Renoir. [reprint ed., 1981]. Milan, 1972, pp. 111–12, no. 504, ill., dates it 1880–82.
Peter Mitchell. Great Flower Painters: Four Centuries of Floral Art. Woodstock, N.Y., 1973, p. 211, colorpl. 304.
Colin B. Bailey inMasterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection. Ed. Colin B. Bailey, Joseph J. Rishel, and Mark Rosenthal. Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, 1991, pp. 38–39, 153, ill. (color and black and white), dates it to the autumn of 1881 based on the autumnal colors and character of the flowers; suggests that it was painted either at the country house of Renoir's patron, Paul Bérard, at Wargemont in September or in Paris before Renoir left for Italy at the end of October; notes that Renoir found it easier to experiment with different color harmonies in flower paintings than in figure paintings; states that the composition follows the standard format for Renoir's flower pictures and mentions the influence of Fantin-Latour.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 482, ill.
Rebecca A. Rabinow. "Modern Art Comes to the Metropolitan: The 1921 Exhibition of 'Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings'." Apollo 152 (October 2000), p. 12, fig. 9 (installation photo).
Richard Shone. The Janice H. Levin Collection of French Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2002, p. 67, fig. 31.
Guy-Patrice Dauberville, and Michel Dauberville, with Camille Fremontier-Murphy. Renoir: Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles. Vol. 1, 1858–1881. Paris, 2007, p. 129, no. 38, ill.
Colin B. Bailey inMasterpieces of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection. Ed. Susan Alyson Stein and Asher Ethan Miller. 4th rev. ed. [1st ed., 1989]. New York, 2009, pp. 115–18, no. 22, ill. (color).
John Collins inRenoir Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago. Ed. Gloria Groom and Jill Shaw. Chicago, 2014, para. 2, under no. 15, fig. 15.2 (color) [https://publications.artic.edu/renoir/reader/paintingsanddrawings/section/138973], compares it to “Peonies” (ca. 1880, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown) and “Chrysanthemums” (1881/82, Art Institute of Chicago); states it was likely painted after 1881 on stylistic grounds.
Colta Ives. Public Parks, Private Gardens: Paris to Provence. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2018, pp. 151, 155, 188, fig. 152 (color), states that the flowers were probably gathered at Wargemont during a visit to the Bérard family.
This work may not be lent, by terms of its acquisition by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Auguste Renoir (French, Limoges 1841–1919 Cagnes-sur-Mer)
1894
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