Vase of Flowers in a Stone Niche

At first glance, the flowers are what stood out most to me. I am drawn in by anything floral. But the uniqueness of the stone niche they set in give it a vibe that they were placed there in front of a burial chamber or it was a niche that set in an unmantained courtyard.

The subtle colors of the paintintg draw you in to look closer to reveal a hidden world.

It also brought back a little bit of nostaligia for me. As a kid I would make a boquet of flowers from the native flowers growing in our yard. I would include random leaves and vines to make it look fuller. Not discounting the artist in any way but a florist would not approve of this unorganized boquet of flowers. 😅

It contains a few thorns and withered leaves that makes it not ideal for a gift but as a placement of appreciation for the native wildlife there.

When it came to the insects within the painting I feel they found refuge and a home amongst the plants and flowers there. At first I took it as kind of a statement of pulling nature away from its natural habitat and with that showing the loss of homes for so many creatures. But I don't know the artists intention. It gives one a lot of thoughts and wonders.

The stone niche itself seems it is becoming ancient and with the placed flowers that seem to already be withering away give this a feeling of a past time that will forever be immortalized in the painting.

*Side note.

The fly which was very well painted for something so small....I would want to swat it with a fly swatter. They are so annoying. 😒(still a lovely painting :))

All of the small animals provide interesting depth to the painting. So does the frame which appears to be larger on the left. It also has cracks on it which let it be not quite too perfet as art work sometimes are. This makes it seem more realistic. The amount of plants seems a bit unrealistic as they all appear to be different species but the amount of roots that would compete with each other in what seems to be a very small dirt pot. It is however, an equistite painting.

Vase of Flowers in a stone Niche, gathers a few opposing characteristics which together give the composition weight and depth.

On the one hand there is the rigidity of the stone niche: fixed geometric shape, hard material.

On the other hand there is the fluidity of the flowers in the vase and the insects crawling about; they have different shapes, they are soft and delicate.

The painting captures a snapshot of life in its different forms which exist in the rigid structure of the world, symbolized by the stone.

To further my impressions of this painting, I want to focus on the aspect of time rather than the masterfully executed visual aspects.

From the perspective of time, we have the longevity of the stone and the efemerity of the plants and the insects. They are all captured in an instantaneous pose and and at the peak of their beauty. But we intuitively know that on a scale of hours, the flowers will lose their poise and vibrant colours. On a scale of days they will wither and die. The insects, in their simbiotic connection to the flowers will either lay their eggs or consume their leaves and petals. But the insects will also grow and die on a sclae of days to weeks. And then there is the stone. The material will last for centuries. Even most of the shape may be maintained.

And for all this potentiality of change, the painter captured their beauty of an instant and made it eternal. And this is what art is, in my view: when we capture beauty and life, we claim a piece of eternity.