Spring Bouquet

Jane Peterson wrote that she loved painting flowers for their "prismatic hues of the rainbow." In 'Spring Bouquet' the artist's fascination with flowers combines with her interest in modern painting. The steep tilted perspective and sense of pattern in the composition are variations on the formal and stylistic principles of post-impressionism. The flat abstraction of the background flower beds is complemented by the individualized specimens, including bearded iris, lilies, and poppies, pictured in the foreground. The flowers Peterson depicts are as fashionable as the up-to-date gown and headdress worn by the central figure. Reaching out to touch the blossoms around her, this young woman imparts a sense of the tactility of the painting's flowers to the viewer. The gesture may have been a sign of rebellion on Peterson's part, for she wrote that her mother always forbade her to touch the flowers in her family garden as a child.