Blomster i en vase 1867 - 1911

Curator: This monochromatic oil-on-canvas artwork, entitled "Blomster i en vase", which translates to Flowers in a Vase, comes to us from the hand of Emmy Thornam. Created somewhere between 1867 and 1911, it resides here at the SMK, the Statens Museum for Kunst. What springs to mind as you view this composition? Editor: It strikes me as unexpectedly moody! It's a still life, flowers no less, which usually suggests joy and vibrancy, but this palette evokes something…contemplative? The heavy impasto gives it this wonderfully textured look, almost sculptural in its darkness. Curator: Absolutely. The choice to work with what seems to be a limited tonal range pulls it away from the literal, towards something perhaps more symbolic. White flowers, in many Western traditions, represent purity, innocence, even mourning, especially against that stark background. I find myself considering how the weight of these associations affects my understanding. Editor: It's interesting how absence creates presence here, wouldn't you say? No bright colours force you to focus on the forms. Like, look at the contrast: the soft petals, full and blooming, juxtaposed against the, what, rather overripe fruit, bordering on decay at the base of the vase. A memento mori perhaps, but with the "morbid" part dialled way, way down. Curator: Yes! Exactly. And the arrangement itself seems to emphasize that duality. The ascending blossoms reach towards the light while the fallen fruit speak to earthly concerns, our temporality, and a visual whisper of vanitas symbolism within something seemingly quite benign on the surface. Editor: Right, Thornam's arrangement captures life's delicate cycle, birth, beauty, decline. I'm almost reminded of Georgia O'Keefe. Though without the, how should I say it, brazen boldness, Thornam gives us a subtler take on beauty in transient form. It makes you want to live in the present moment! You know? In the shadow, in the light! Curator: Indeed. The painting quietly reminds us of the intrinsic beauty found even in transient states. Thornam presents us with such a rich and layered observation on something as commonplace as a bouquet of flowers, made all the more impactful for its restrained palette. Editor: So true! It definitely offers so much more than your average flowery "still life," eh? Gives you something to chew on.