Irises in a vase

Vincent van Gogh painted these irises in 1890, during his last months at the asylum in Saint-Rémy. The blue petals twist and lean in all directions, some standing tall while others droop under their own weight, and the green leaves shoot upward like quick flicks of the brush. Van Gogh turned to flowers often in this period, both as a soothing way to pass the time and because he simply loved playing with bright, bold color. The thick paint and the way you can trace each stroke are hallmarks of post-Impressionism, a style built on emotion and movement rather than picture-perfect detail.

A small secret sits in the color choices. Van Gogh set his blue flowers against a soft, faintly pink background because he knew opposite colors make each other look stronger. Sadly, much of that pink has faded with age, so the painting feels calmer today than it did when it was fresh. A plain white vase and an empty green table let nothing distract from the blooms. It is an ordinary bunch of flowers, really, but painted with such tenderness that it stays with you.