This painting from 1621 by Ambrosius Bosschaert on view at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC looks incredibly modern to me, and here's why:

🧑‍🎨 One of the early Dutch still-life masters, Bosschaert, painted with remarkable realism and detail, helping to set the style and standard for the entire genre of Dutch floral still-life paintings.

💐 Flowers are a timeless subject. One of the reasons I love this work is because flowers don't date art like fashion, interiors, and even landscapes do. If you look at a 17th-century painting of people, things like their clothes and hairstyles would give away that the work was from hundreds of years ago.

🖼️ And not so obvious... Still-life paintings, like this one, are a surprisingly modern genre of painting and some of the first “non-religious” paintings (1) in the world. Instead of stories from the Bible or about ancient gods, still-life paintings feature personal possessions like flowers, fruits, and domestic objects, much like the art we know today.

My favorite things about this work:

🌷 This work was painted during the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century when the Netherlands was thriving as a world trading power, and they were introduced to exotic and luxurious items. Now considered a symbol of the Netherlands, the tulip was one of these luxury items that became hugely popular. Introduced to the Netherlands from Turkey in the 16th century, the name 'tulip' is derived from the Turkish word for 'turban,' referencing the shape of the flower and its cultural origins (2).

💀 I couldn't wait to include the damaged leaves on the right side of the bouquet in my rearrangement. They are an example of vanitas, which are still-life paintings that include reminders of mortality. Wilted flowers and rotten fruit were also included as vanitas in paintings from this period (3).

My floral rearrangement:

📷 Bosschaert took artistic license in the painting that I couldn’t in my rearrangement. In the case of many Dutch floral still-life paintings, the arrangements portrayed could never have existed because the flowers bloom in different seasons. As a result, the artist likely worked from sketches or dried flowers to capture the full bouquet (4). Many of the flowers are at different blooming stages as well, which was a huge challenge. Since I couldn’t source the exact varieties, I focused on the textures and colors in order to bring this piece to life. I included lush ferns, fluffy pink ranunculus, and dramatic yellow alstroemerias and attempted to keep the triangular, symmetrical composition of the arrangement intact. To further capture the essence of this Dutch still life, I photographed it against a dark background, allowing the colors of the flowers to pop just like in the painting.

Sources:

(1) Apples, pears, and paint: How to make a still life painting. (2014). In Films On Demand. Films Media Group. https://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=103525&xtid=60407

(2)  Tulip Festival Amsterdam. (n.d.). The meaning of tulip colors in Holland. https://tulipfestivalamsterdam.com/the-meaning-of-tulip-colors-in-holland/

(3) Dumbarton Oaks Museum. (n.d.). Still life of flowers in a glass vase [Painting]. https://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info/837

(4)  Hyde, S. (2023, July 24). Flower press: Secret gardens. The World of Interiors. https://www.worldofinteriors.com/story/secret-language-dutch-flower-paintings