Poppies

630
Poppies
ca. 1833?

Eugéne Delacroix

This flower study, a bunch of poppies in full bloom, was painted in generous smudges of fiery red in front of a neutral background, perhaps a wall. The strokes are full of energy and vitality, and their changing direction links the patches of colour into a unique play of blooms and petals. Delacroix painted about fifteen "still lifes with flowers" in which poppies, more often combined with other kinds of flowers, are not rare. George Sand, who met the artist in 1833, the year from which his earliest known paintings of flowers date, spoke about his enthusiasm for flowers.