Eugène Delacroix: Gateway to Impressionist Gardens

Was Eugène Delacroix, a notable nineteenth-century romantic painter, thinking like an impressionist before the movement even began? In the works analyzed below, those of prominent impressionists Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet, and Camille Pissarro, all composed between 1860 and 1895, we can observe many adaptations of style and composition drawing from Delacroix’s Basket of Flowers (1848-49). All of these artists work together to capture our eye with their appreciation and perception of the world around them. 

As we take part in this conversation among flowers, we can discern the many ways that artists influence each other throughout time. Over a decade before the first signs of impressionism, Eugène Delacroix took a break from the busyness of city life in post-revolutionary France, retreated to the countryside, and began a study of flowers. Straying from his normal romantic, narrative paintings, Delacroix received praise for his ability to relate life to art in his blooms; but viewers cannot help but notice the idealistic (and potentially impressionistic) hints in his Basket of Flowers. With the creation and imaginative twisting of trees, Delacroix shows his ability to think like an impressionist before the movement even gained notability. Impressionists, such as Degas and Monet, show admiration for Delacroix by adopting some of his energizing techniques, ranging from color, brushstrokes, to the organization of the composition.

Eugène Delacroix

Basket of Flowers

1848-49

Oil on Canvas

67.187.60

A wicker basket full of a vast assortment of flowers spills forth onto the ground of a soft and serene park. Through the detail and care shown in each flower, Delacroix demonstrates his ability to bring life and energy to his blooms. Our attention is brought to the very impressionistic twisted tree branch of morning glories above, the strange ocean-like plant to the left, and the tall, pointed hollyhock bush to the right background. Delacroix draws our eyes to these reimagined aspects of nature as he bursts through the restraints of common still-life in the nineteenth century and displays the complexity and bewilderment of the world around us.

Edgar Degas

A Woman Seated Beside a Vase of Flowers

1865

Oil on Canvas

29.100.128

A magnificent, colorful bouquet is placed prominently on a table on which a woman rests her elbow. The tufts of deep red, white, and soft pink greatly resemble Delacroix’s own composition of flowers. The variety of dahlias, asters, and gaillardias (late summer flowers) display Degas’ talent of creating life through different kinds of brushstrokes. He presents a sharp, realistic sense in his selection of blooms, beckoning us to reach out and touch them. The form and shape of the bouquet itself mirrors Delacroix’s overturned basket of flowers: the beautifully dispersed blooms streaming onto the middle-ground of the painting. This aspect of Degas’ composition, like Delacroix’s, allows us to pay greater attention to every single flower by guiding our eyes from the top to the bottom of the bouquet.

Vincent van Gogh

Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase 

1890

Oil on Canvas

1993.400.4

In van Gogh’s own selection of blooms, he demonstrates his ability to incorporate imagination into an otherwise ordinary vase of flowers. Even though the colors used in this composition are quite contrastive to the lively shades used in Delacroix’s spring ensemble, we can still sense a sharing of imagination and creativity. Straying from a more realistic depiction of blooms, van Gogh uses his curved and swirling brushstrokes to focus more on a feeling of whimsicalness and eccentricity. Van Gogh’s brushstrokes are distinct and intentional, and the swirling and waving of the leaves and flower petals reminds us of the rebellious, prominent twisted tree of morning glories set above Delacroix’s overturned basket of flowers.

Auguste Renoir

Bouquet of Chrysanthemums

1881

Oil on Canvas

2003.20.10

Renoir presents a soft and elegant interpretation of chrysanthemums, one of the flowers featured in Delacroix’s composition. The complexity of the flower itself allows Renoir to showcase his talent in capturing both the beauty and vitality of each bloom. These shades of white, light pink, red, yellow, and orange invoke a sense of calm while they are contrasted with the darker background. Renoir’s use of white in the petals of his flowers, reminds us of Delacroix’s similar technique to bring life to his blooms. This depiction of chrysanthemums shows that only one kind of flower is enough to portray a diverse set of skilled brushwork.

Claude Monet

Camille Monet (1847–1879) in the Garden at Argenteuil

1876

Oil on Canvas

2000.93.1

The first aspect of Monet’s composition we notice is the tall tree spread across the top, and below it, our eyes are drawn to the tall, flowering hollyhock plant in the middle and his wife walking on the path shaded by the tree. Monet’s use of a tree canvasing the width of the painting (above the main feature of the composition) mirrors Delacroix’s use of morning glories to direct our attention to his basket of flowers. These features are just one aspect as to how the Impressionists want to guide our eyes to understand their view of the scene before them.

Claude Monet

Landscape: The Parc Monceau

1876

Oil on Canvas

59.206

Monet, in this work composed in 1876, depicts a diverse French garden. He uses a similar color palette and organization as the painting of his wife, Camille Monet. Showing hardly any repetition in the variety of greenery displayed, it is up to the viewers to determine what Monet believed to be the most important feature in his work. From the draping tree above the scene, our eyes are drawn directly to the freshly-blossomed tree off-center in the composition. By using this technique of guiding our view, Monet again shows his admiration for the style and work of Delacroix.

Camille Pissarro

 Poplars, Éragny

1895

Oil on Canvas

67.187.93

Pissarro’s depiction of a serene, bright, and green garden almost seems as if it can be the assortment of trees in the park behind Delacroix’s basket of flowers. He uses various shades of green and yellow to make one peaceful and contemplative scene: something so simple and yet so meaningful in the eyes of the viewer. Every one of us, I am sure, can remember just one aspect of a forest or garden that has made an impression on us. For Delacroix, it was the twisted tree of morning glories, and for Pissarro, it was the one towering tree in the midst of this simple French garden. The small figure gazing at this tree could even be Pissarro and he uses himself to direct our eyes to the same subject that left an impression on him. Like Delacroix’s use of hollyhocks shooting towards the sky, we can assume that Pissarro sought also to rebel against the norms of still-life and demonstrate the true vivacity and inspiration that can be displayed in the painting of gardens.