Roderic O'Conor

RODERIC O'CONOR (1860-1940)
Geraniums, c. 1904
Oil on canvas
Collection of Brian P. Burns

Geraniums

After leaving Brittany for the Montparnasse district of Paris in 1904, O'Conor turned away from painting landscapes and seascapes and towards depicting flowers and still lifes. Geraniums is one of these paintings. When O'Conor painted flowers, he usually placed the arrangment beside the window of his studio. Here the flowers would catch a good light, emphasizing the strength of their colors. However, in his painting of the arrangments the carefully considered setting is only indicated with the barest suggestion: its only purpose is to show the flowers to their best advantage. In Geraniums, the dark, nondescript background provides the perfect contrast to the bright vase and flowers which it contains. The painting of the flowers has been quickly done, the briskness of the brush strokes and crispness of the colors suggesting the sharp, pungent scent of the geraniums themselves.