Chrysanthemums in a Vase

Notes

Tretchikoff described his style as 'symbolic realism'. And nowhere was this more prominent than in his flower studies. He first painted flowers in Java, enchanted by the rainbow-like colours of the cannas in his garden. But his fascination with flowers had probably started much earlier, in the Far East. In Chinese culture, each flower symbolises a quality or idea. Flowers are always found on Buddhist altars. The graceful shapes of Chinese vases, emblems of harmony, reproduce the curves of a woman's body.

- Boris Gorelik

Provenance

Stephan Welz & Co., Johannesburg, November 2021, lot 264.

Private Collection.