Vase of Flowers is typical of a group of flower still-life paintings Redon made in the late 1860s, although he would continue to paint vases of flowers throughout his life. Unusual in this painting is the container that holds the poppies and marguerites, favorite flower choices for Redon. The container may possibly be a coconut shell or perhaps it is some kind of irregular ceramic or sack. Seen against the uniform mauve of the background, table, and container, the yellow and red poppy blossoms radiate almost like stained glass. Indeed, Redon wrote in his journal that isolating an object renders its brilliance and intensity, allowing it to grow and impose itself.

Odilon Redon lived in Paris after 1870, where he turned increasingly to painting and pastel. During the 1890s and under the influence of various French Post-Impressionists such as Bonnard, his art incorporated brilliant colors and his subjects often turned to mythological scenes that typically evinced a romantic, dreamlike quality.

The American author, Edith Wharton (1862-1937), previously owned this painting during the years she lived in France where it hung in the library at her home Le Pavillon Colombe. The Blisses socialized with Wharton during their years in Paris, and Mildred Bliss and Wharton had worked closely together to provision ambulances and children’s hospitals during World War I. Beatrix Jones Farrand (1872-1959), Wharton’s niece and the principal landscape designer at Dumbarton Oaks, acquired Vase of Flowers and a second Redon flower study from her aunt’s French estate. She originally intended to leave Vase of Flowers to Dumbarton Oaks in her will, but decided instead to gift it to the Blisses in 1946 writing "It is far more fun to send it to you now and to know that you and Robert will enjoy it, without waiting for me to disappear from the horizon."[1] The painting hung in the drawing room of the house on 28th Street that the Blisses had purchased after gifting Dumbarton Oaks to Harvard University in 1940. The Blisses later donated the painting to Dumbarton Oaks.

- J. Carder & C. Galfano



Notes:
[1] Beatrix Farrand to Mildred Bliss, October 14, 1946; Dumbarton Oaks Garden Archives, BF 1946.10.14: https://www.doaks.org/library-archives/garden-archives/correspondence/letters-and-notes/beatrix-farrand-to-mildred-bliss-october-14-1945

Bühl, Gudrun, editor. Dumbarton Oaks, The Collections. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection (distributed by Harvard University Press), 2008, 358f, ill.

Possibly collection of Jules Chavasse (1858-1919), Sète (formerly Cette), France;[1]

Collection of Edith Wharton (1862-1937), St. Brice-sous-Forêt, Seine-et-Oise (now Val d'Oise), France, possibly 1922-1937;

Purchased from the French estate of Edith Wharton by Beatrix Farrand (1872-1959), 1937;[2]

Collection of Beatrix Farrand, Bar Harbor, ME, 1937-1946;

Gift of Beatrix Farrand to Mildred Barnes and Robert Woods Bliss, Washington, DC, 1946;[3]

Gift of Mildred Barnes and Robert Woods Bliss to Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC, c. 1947;

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, House Collection, Washington, DC.


Notes:
[1] There are four nearly identical paintings in the Redon catalogue raisonné. The only one with no modern collection history is the painting whose last known provenance is the post-humous auction of the Jules Chavasse collection. Research ongoing.
[2] Letter from Beatrix Farrand to Mildred Bliss, September 28, 1937; Dumbarton Oaks Garden Archives, BF 1937.09.28: https://www.doaks.org/library-archives/garden-archives/correspondence/letters-and-notes/beatrix-farrand-to-mildred-bliss-september-28-1937
[3] Beatrix Farrand to Mildred Bliss, October 14, 1946; Dumbarton Oaks Garden Archives, BF 1946.10.14: https://www.doaks.org/library-archives/garden-archives/correspondence/letters-and-notes/beatrix-farrand-to-mildred-bliss-october-14-1945