Title: Bouquet of Flowers i

Artist: Gustave Courbet

Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase 1862 Gustave Courbet French, Ornans 1819–La Tour-de-Peilz 1877 Oil on canvas In the summer of 1862, Courbet began painting flower pictures during a happy sojourn in the Saintonge region of southwestern France. In a generous, bursting display that suggests a spontaneous gathering rather than careful arrangement of flowers, this bouquet intermingles many of the common garden varieties and exotic hothouse blooms that were available to Courbet at the estate of his host, the collector Etienne Baudry. The artist sold the painting fresh off the easel to Baudry's friend Frédéric Mestreau, a local banker and cognac wholesaler. Appreciating the commercial value of still-life painting, Courbet frankly admitted: "Flowers are making me a mint."