Yellow Roses in a Vase by Gustave Caillebotte
Yellow Roses in a Vase by Gustave Caillebotte (1882)
Resolution: 5756 × 6754 px
A dense bouquet of pale yellow roses fills a simple cylindrical vase on a cool grey marble tabletop. Fully opened blooms crowd the left side while buds and turning flowers extend to the right, and loose petals scatter across the surface below. The luminous arrangement emerges dramatically from a nearly black, vigorously brushed background.
Caillebotte gives the flowers an exceptionally tactile presence through thick, broken strokes of cream, lemon, pink, green, and blue-grey. The smooth vase and angular marble planes provide a restrained geometric base for the unstable mass of petals above. Dark surrounding tones intensify the blossoms’ light while the fallen petals introduce a quiet sense of time and decay.
Painted in 1882, Yellow Roses in a Vase was an important early exploration of still life within Caillebotte’s work and remained in his possession until his death. Edgar Degas later acquired it, recognizing the force of its concentrated composition and material paint. This high-resolution image reveals the heavy impasto, scratched and layered background, subtle marble veining, signature, and individual strokes within each rose.
