Flowers have universal meaning as well as specialized ones in virtually all parts of the world. It's no wonder that they have long been the subject of paintings, and there endless famous flower paintings widely recognized today. Floral art has also been an important part of many famous painters' works, often helping to define their legacies.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir in the mid-1800 chose flowers as his subject for many paintings. Of course his paintings were often experiments with landscapes, outdoor scenes of Parisian daily life, and other paintings that used light in new ways. But his paintings of roses, chrysanthemums, and other spring flowers still stand as some of his famous works.
Renoir spent some of his time with impressionist master Claude Monet, who likely set the standard for impressionism flower paintings. Water lilies, iris, and other flowers blooming in his gardens at Giverny were seen on canvas like they never had before as Monet found his true inspiration. Later in life, Monet invested even more in ensuring his garden grew more colorful flowers so he could focus his attention solely on floral art. The flower art of Claude Money are likely the most recognizable in the world.
Another French artist, Henri Matisse, never hid the fact that he loved to paint beautiful things. He was also influenced by the impressionist and post-impressionist painters, but developed his own style of bright colors with broad strokes. His passion and style often resulted in flower paintings.
Vincent Van Gogh made his impact on the impressionism art world with daring outdoor, landscape, and nature related subjects, including flowers. But there is one flower varietal distinctly associated to him: sunflowers. Who can't forget the stunning collection of sunflower paintings by Van Gogh, which almost treat each flower as it's owns subject. Van Gogh seems to emphasize the pure brilliance and sensory joy of blooms in his works. These paintings has been duplicated the world over.
Flower paintings seem synonymous with impressionism, but there continue to be examples of famous abstract flower paintings, and realism. Georgia O'Keefe is a 20th century artist who partly defined her works through realistic close ups of flowers such as roses and iris. Reaction to here works seem to bring the same joy to the viewer, and same results to a room as flower paintings have done for centuries.
It's no surprise that flower paintings continue to be the subject of many artists. Flower paintings are also some of the most popular used in decorating, especially given the large availability of collections now available in galleries worldwide.
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