Vaas met bloemen 1880 - 1930

Bernard Klene made this print of a vase with flowers at an unknown date with lithography. I can imagine him conjuring it, almost mystically: the colours blooming under his hand, the shapes emerging like memories. It's a pretty straight-forward still life—flowers in a vase—but something about the mark-making feels deeply personal. The grainy texture creates a sense of gentle light, as if the flowers are lit by a soft, diffused glow. The contrast between the cool blues and purples of the background and the warmer yellows and reds of the flowers creates a harmonious tension. I wonder if Klene ever saw the flower paintings of Odilon Redon? There's a similar softness, an intimate focus. It's a conversation across time, these painters whispering to each other through color and form. And maybe that's what painting is, after all: a way of reaching out, of saying, “I see you, I feel you, I’m here.”