Nationalmuseum has acquired an exceptional floral still life by the French artist Antoine Berjon, who in 1800 was one of the true stars of the French art world. The painting complements Nationalmuseum’s collections. This genre of painting was immensely popular in the 19th century.
Antoine Berjon was a French painter and designer, among the most important flower painters of 19th-century France. He worked in a variety of media including oil, pastel, watercolour, and ink. He began his artistic career by drawing patterns for silk manufacturers in his hometown of Lyon. In 1794 Berjon settled in Paris, where flower painting experienced a renaissance after a number of Dutch artists who had moved there devoted themselves to it with new energy.
Nationalmuseum’s newly acquired painting is one of Berjon’s largest in a relatively limited œuvre. The painting consists of roses, peonies, lilies, tulips and other plants in various stages of blossoming. On the table is a fruit basket overflowing with peaches, pears and grapes. On one of the roses is a bumblebee, which can perhaps be interpreted as a reference to the still lifes of the 17th century. But while the insects – beetles and flies – in the latter often symbolise decay, in this case the bumblebee stands for the reproduction of plants.
Berjon eventually returned to Lyon, where he became Professor of Flower Design at the École des Beaux-Arts, which was closely affiliated with the city’s silk industry. For the remaining 20 years of his life, he continued to create and teach, but from a rather isolated position.
“We never thought it would be possible to acquire a painting like this. There are not very many of them, for the simple reason that each painting demanded a huge amount of work by the artist. Berjon’s still life was one of the few significant works left on the market, and its high quality allows us to convey why flower paintings were highly valued around the turn of the 19th century,” says Carl-Johan Olsson, Curator of 19th Century Painting at Nationalmuseum.