Vase with Gladioli and Carnations 1886

Curator: Van Gogh’s "Vase with Gladioli and Carnations," painted in 1886, a seemingly simple floral still life now housed at the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen. Editor: At first glance, it overwhelms. It’s that blood-red splash against the somber, nearly gothic, dark background. There's such a feeling of brooding drama and almost tragic intensity coming from what should just be, well, pretty flowers. Curator: Interesting. Because the flowers practically jump off the canvas, don't they? Observe how thickly the paint is applied—impasto. It wasn't about replicating the *look* of the flowers, but conveying their essence, their life force. One could interpret it through Van Gogh’s lens of art’s intrinsic connection to labor – agriculture yields commodity; commodity yields art. Editor: Right. And in this case, an intense desire is almost being manufactured. Gladioli traditionally symbolize strength and moral integrity, and carnations, love and affection... I imagine these floral purchases could have cost quite a bit, particularly considering the price of the implements employed for an oil painting. What did acquiring those luxury commodities mean at this time? Curator: Well, perhaps that intense desire became both attainable and overwhelming at this moment. But that contrast between the vivid blossoms and the muted vase and background is precisely where the magic lies, no? Van Gogh often battled darkness within himself. Editor: Perhaps that intensity also speaks to that desire to transcend, by means of commodity or by means of symbolic gesture. These colors resonate at a visceral level because we're fundamentally impacted by labor – cultivation and production and transport and purchase and preservation and display. This is why these blossoms are eternally striking, no? Curator: In eternally fleeting ways, certainly. He transformed ordinary objects into vehicles of powerful emotion. We see a little bit of ourselves there in those gladioli, reaching upwards, don’t we? Editor: Indeed. To see how our daily life yields profound moments, just as his brush transformed paint. Thank you!