Notes

Still Life with Poppies, painted in 1920, is an exquisite example of Maggie Laubser’s early works that rarely become available. It was purchased from the artist by Professor Pieter van Braam, Professor of Classics at Stellenbosch University, and has been in the same family for several generations.

Laubser acknowledged the strong affinity she felt for Vincent van Gogh and his works:
'I am very impressed with the work of the Hollander, Van Gogh. He was one of the most passionate painters who ever lived and the intensity of his vivid impressions can be compared with the image which we perceive when a flash of lightning brightens the world for a moment.'¹

Like the works of Van Gogh, Still Life with Poppies communicates the artist’s inner vision through the simplification of form and intensified colour. The painting is animated with bold colour contrasts, strong faceted forms and playful reflections. Paintings of such superb quality and provenance, with documented exhibition histories and literature, rarely come to the market these days.
1. Dalene Marais, Maggie Laubser: her paintings, drawings and graphics, Perskor, Johannesburg and Cape Town, 1994, page 33.

Provenance

Purchased from artist/artist’s exhibition by Professsor Pieter van Braam, Stellenbosch; inherited by Mrs B van der Riet, Brakpan

Exhibited

Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), Johannesburg, 1975, catalogue number 7

Literature

Dalene Marais, Maggie Laubser: her paintings, drawings and graphics, Perskor Publishers, Johannesburg and Cape Town, 1994, page 136, catalogue number 260, illustrated