Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Contemporary Art Society
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/pablo-picasso-1767" aria-label="More by Pablo Picasso" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Pablo Picasso</a>
Flowers
Purchased with assistance from the Contemporary Art Society 1933
flower
objects
plants and flowers
vase
vessels and containers
<p>This was the first work by Pablo Picasso to be bought by the Tate Gallery. It was acquired in 1933 with the help of the Contemporary Art Society, a fund established in 1910 to help public museums and galleries buy important works of art. This surprising flower painting by Picasso reveals a lot about the tastes of the Tate Gallery Trustees in the early twentieth century. In 1933 Picasso was already an established avant-garde artist, but the decision to buy this conservative early work shows that the Trustees were resisting the more radical developments in modern art.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
24 November 2003 – 5 March 2006
2006-03-05
24 November 2003 – 5 March 2006
2006-03-05
2003-11-24
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2003-11-24
Archive/Library
Collection based display
18 February 2011 – 16 October 2011
2011-10-16
18 February 2011 – 30 May 2011
2011-05-30
2011-02-18
Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/
29 June 2011 – 16 October 2011
2011-10-16
2011-06-29
Museu Picasso (Barcelona, Spain)
2011-02-18
Eating Fire: Picasso's discovery of Paris (1900-1907)
Loan-out
15 February 2012 – 4 November 2012
2012-11-04
15 February 2012 – 15 July 2012
2012-07-15
2012-02-15
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
4 August 2012 – 4 November 2012
2012-11-04
2012-08-04
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Edinburgh, UK)
http://www.nationalgalleries.org/
2012-02-15
Picasso and Modern British Art
Exhibition
4 August 2012 – 4 November 2012
2012-11-04
4 August 2012 – 4 November 2012
2012-11-04
2012-08-04
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Edinburgh, UK)
http://www.nationalgalleries.org/
2012-08-04
Picasso and Modern Art
Loan-out
27 June 2020 – 24 January 2021
2021-01-24
9 October 2021 – 16 January 2022
2022-01-16
2021-10-09
Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, Canada)
http://www.ago.net
26 February 2022 – 12 June 2022
2022-06-12
2022-02-26
Phillips Collection (Washington, USA)
2020-06-27
Picasso: Painting the Blue Period
Loan-out
Flowers
support: 651 × 489 mm
frame: 916 × 758 × 103 mm
Purchased with assistance from the <a href="/search?gid=999999975" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Contemporary Art Society</a> 1933
<p>This was the first work by Pablo Picasso to be bought by the Tate Gallery. It was acquired in 1933 with the help of the Contemporary Art Society, a fund established in 1910 to help public museums and galleries buy important works of art. This surprising flower <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> by Picasso reveals a lot about the tastes of the Tate Gallery Trustees in the early twentieth century. In 1933 Picasso was already an established <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/a/avant-garde" title="Glossary definition for 'Avant-garde'"><span>avant-garde</span></a> artist, but the decision to buy this conservative early work shows that the Trustees were resisting the more radical developments in <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/modernism" title="Glossary definition for 'Modernism'"><span>modern art</span></a>.
</p>
Display caption
2004-09-08T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>Pablo Picasso</b><span> 1881-1973 </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/picasso-flowers-n04683" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N04683</span></a> </span><b>Fleurs</b><span>
(Flowers) 1901 </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>Inscribed 'Picasso' b.r.</span>
<br/><span>Oil on canvas, 25 5/8 x 19 1/4 (65 x 49)</span>
<br/><span>Purchased from Reid and Lefevre (Grant-in-Aid 'T' Fund) with the aid of the CAS 1933</span>
<br/><i>Prov:</i><span>
[?Le Père Soulier, Paris]; with Louis Libaude, Paris; Leo Lewin, Breslau; with Reid and Lefevre, London</span>
<br/><i>Exh:</i><span>
</span><i>Silver Jubilee Exhibition of Some of the Works acquired by the CAS</i><span>, Tate Gallery, July-August 1935 (37); RSA, Edinburgh, May-August 1946 (182)</span>
<br/><i>Lit:</i><span>
Christian Zervos, </span><i>Pablo Picasso</i><span> (Paris 1932), Vol.1, No.61, repr. pl.28; Georges Boudaille, Pierre Daix and Joan Rosselet, </span><i>Picasso 1900-1906</i><span>
(Neuchâtel 1966), No.V.22, p.168 repr.</span>
<br/><i>Repr:</i><span>
Carlos Peacock, </span><i>Painters and Writers</i><span> (London 1949), pl.77 in colour </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>Painted in Paris in 1901 and possibly one of the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/still-life" title="Glossary definition for 'Still life'"><span>still lifes</span></a> of flowers included in Picasso's exhibition with F. Iturrino at the Galerie Vollard in June-July 1901. In addition to no.6 'Iris' (probably Zervos, op. cit., No.58) and no.60 'Roses' (probably Zervos, op. cit., No.9), there were two pictures nos.27 and 28 entitled respectively 'Flower' and 'Flowers', both of which were lent by Mme Besnard. However the fact that it is an early Blue Period work would suggest that it is more likely to have been painted toward the end of the year. </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>On being shown a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/photograph" title="Glossary definition for 'Photograph'"><span>photograph</span></a> of this work by Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler in 1950, Picasso recalled that somebody - he remembered the name as Dr Rhein or Rheims - had asked him to paint a still life of flowers, but when the picture was finished he found the price (20 francs) too high and didn't take it. So Picasso sold it, probably for less, to a dealer in second-hand goods like Père Soulier. </span>
<br/></p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/><span>Ronald Alley, </span><i>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</i><span>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, p.592, reproduced p.592</span>
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-15T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
flower objects plants and flowers vase vessels and containers