Blue Violet Pansy Botanical Painting Van Gogh knowing stillness

knowing stillness

Its palette of seafoam

its grassy flanks falling away in sculpted folds toward the valley

while a clear glass cup of amber tea steams gently on its matching saucer and a rose-sprigged cloth lies folded to one side

or a stairwell wall that benefits from a single arresting image

Blue Violet Pansy Botanical Painting Van Gogh knowing stillnessA single blue violet pansy stands at the heart of this botanical portrait, its broad upper petals ruffled like silk and its lower petals fanning out around a small golden yellow eye. Painted with a naturalist's patience, the flower rises on a slender green stem above a rosette of softly veined leaves, the whole study set against a near black ground that throws every contour into relief. Subtle violet shading travels from the pale, almost luminous