Roses

A full vase of roses fills the picture, blooms leaning out past the rim in every direction. This still life by Samuel Peploe belongs to the Scottish Colourist tradition, where a single flower arrangement could carry the whole argument of a painting. Peploe builds the bouquet from thick, deliberate strokes: crimson petals loaded on with the palette knife, pink blossoms softened at the edges, deep green leaves cutting dark wedges between the flowers. The vase itself sits square in the frame, its glaze catching cool light against a fabric backdrop of blue and white. Nothing is blended into mush. Each petal holds its own edge, the way paint behaves when an artist works fast and sure. Hung in a dining room or a parlour with good daylight, it reads as what it is: flowers at their peak, painted by someone who loved the smell of turpentine. Note: supplied as a high quality reproduction of the original painting.