Flowers in a Jar 1950

Augustus John made this painting, Flowers in a Jar, by piling up simple brushstrokes, creating a harmony of colour and form. It's like he’s asking: how many marks does it take to make a flower, a leaf, a table? There is something so charming about the way John approaches still life. The paint is applied with this casual, almost slapdash quality, and yet, it all comes together to create something vibrant and alive. Look at the way he's rendered the table, thick and brown, versus the delicate stems of the flowers, reaching out like they're desperate for light. Notice that single red stem on the right. It's a tiny detail, but it completely changes the painting, leading your eye around and around. This work reminds me a little of Fantin-Latour, but with a bit more swagger. Like Latour, John embraced the beauty of the everyday, finding poetry in the simple arrangement of flowers, celebrating ambiguity and possibility through paint.