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Maurice Denis — Avril (Les anémones)
Maurice Denis

Avril (Les anémones)

1891

Painted in 1891, when Maurice Denis was barely twenty years old, Avril (Les anémones) stands as a luminous early declaration of the Nabi movement's ambitions. The composition centers on a cluster of anemones rendered in vivid, unmodulated color, their blooms pressing forward with an almost devotional intensity against a flattened background that refuses the conventions of academic depth. Denis orchestrates pattern, color, and spiritual feeling into a single visual surface, honoring his own famous axiom that a painting is, before all else, a flat arrangement of colors assembled in a certain order. The work belongs to a pivotal moment in French modernism, when a generation of young artists trained under Gauguin's influence sought to transform everyday subjects into vehicles for interior and symbolic meaning. Denis was among the most intellectually rigorous of this circle, and even in a relatively intimate format of 65 by 78 centimeters, Avril (Les anémones) carries considerable pictorial weight. The soft-edged forms, the resonant harmony of pinks, whites, and greens, and the tender stillness of the scene reflect a sensibility that is at once decorative and deeply felt, equally indebted to Japanese printmaking and to the medieval tapestry traditions Denis revered. For the serious collector, this painting represents an exceptional opportunity to acquire a signed, early canvas by one of the foundational figures of Post-Impressionism at a formative period in his career. Currently held at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the work carries institutional provenance that speaks to its quality and significance. Paintings by Denis from the 1890s, particularly those with this freshness of handling and clarity of vision, rarely come to market and occupy a singular position within the broader narrative of modernist painting.

Medium
Oil on canvas
Overall
Signed
Yes

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About this work

Maurice Denis, Avril (Les anémones), 1891

Painted in 1891, when Maurice Denis was barely twenty years old, Avril (Les anémones) stands as a luminous early declaration of the Nabi movement's ambitions. The composition centers on a cluster of anemones rendered in vivid, unmodulated color, their blooms pressing forward with an almost devotional intensity against a flattened background that refuses the conventions of academic depth. Denis orchestrates pattern, color, and spiritual feeling into a single visual surface, honoring his own famous axiom that a painting is, before all else, a flat arrangement of colors assembled in a certain order. The work belongs to a pivotal moment in French modernism, when a generation of young artists trained under Gauguin's influence sought to transform everyday subjects into vehicles for interior and symbolic meaning. Denis was among the most intellectually rigorous of this circle, and even in a relatively intimate format of 65 by 78 centimeters, Avril (Les anémones) carries considerable pictorial weight. The soft-edged forms, the resonant harmony of pinks, whites, and greens, and the tender stillness of the scene reflect a sensibility that is at once decorative and deeply felt, equally indebted to Japanese printmaking and to the medieval tapestry traditions Denis revered. For the serious collector, this painting represents an exceptional opportunity to acquire a signed, early canvas by one of the foundational figures of Post-Impressionism at a formative period in his career. Currently held at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the work carries institutional provenance that speaks to its quality and significance. Paintings by Denis from the 1890s, particularly those with this freshness of handling and clarity of vision, rarely come to market and occupy a singular position within the broader narrative of modernist painting.

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 65 x 78 cm
Year
1891
Signed
Hand-signed by the artist
Seen at
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

More works by Maurice Denis

Collected by

Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, Cleveland Museum of Art