Wednesday, October 7, 2020

Cornflowers by Ștefan Luchian: A gesture of generosity


 


 

 

 

 

 

Ștefan Luchian's Cornflowers (Albăstrele) are an overflow of colour, an abundance of life which can non be contained in the flower jug. Known as "the painter of flowers”, Luchian is receptive to the cornflowers' intense blue, their exuberant disarray and carefree gesture: brimming over the vase and generously laying out their beauty into the world, to be marveled at.

To me Luchian's cornflowers become ambassadors of freedom with their intense blue and overflowing presence. Like a pair of eyes, two white daisies with yellow-orange irises stand out on this sea of blue. They are overwhelmed, just like we are, by these restless and fresh cornflowers, hand-picked from the garden of the world and brought together by Luchian, a devoted lover of flowers.

A harmless chaos unfolds on the background of an intense red-brick brown, a warm hostess to the blue of the rebellious flowers. A gentle on the margins and surprisingly bright around the jug yellow supports both the jug and the joyful cornflowers. It could just as well be a calm sun beam brought down from the sky by the painter's hand and laid over the canvas to light up this blue mystery from bellow.

The centre of the composition is taken by the clay jug in beige/pale yellow with a dark decorative pattern; it's a discrete friend at this party of colour and light, a receptacle for the small wonders of this world.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In another version of the Cornflowers (Albăstrele) the painter shows a more abstract interpretation of the flowers. This time the abundance and liveliness of the bouquet translates into an explosion of colour taking over the individual flowers, with the cornflowers dissolved into an inky blue sprinkled with a handful of suns: the white daisies.

Ștefan Luchian's Cornflowers (Albăstrele) offer an intimate view upon the expanse of life and the intensity of freedom and hope.

Notes: 1. this is an English version (not just a translation ;-) of an article originally published in Romanian in Ghidul pozneț de cultură (The Naughty cultural guide) Nr.6, 21 septembrie 2016. You can read the online version on LiterNet:

https://agenda.liternet.ro/articol/21231/Ioana-Muntenescu/Stefan-Luchian-Albastrele.html

2. I find the Romanian name of the cornflower, "albăstrea", very beautiful, since it is a feminine diminutive derived from the word "albastru" which means "blue".