plate no. 2135

Flowers in white vase

David Burliuk, 1956

oil, canvasPost-Impressionismflower paintingflowersvasestill lifefruitlandscapetrees

what to study here

It shows how thick versus thin paint, a cool dominant value, and broken edges can organize a flower still life without detailed rendering.

Look at how this painting separates its surfaces by paint handling alone. The flower heads carry heavy impasto, laid on thick and left unblended, while the blue-green background is thinner and more transparent. That difference in thickness pushes the background back without any hard perspective. Edges are broken and soft throughout, with loose directional strokes instead of outlines, and the sharpest definition appears where bright petals meet dark stems. Study the value structure too. A cool middle value dominates, with the white vase and white flowers as the brightest accent and the dark purples, deep greens and shadowed stems as the darkest notes. The apples sit between them as a warm mid-dark bridge. Light comes from the upper left, and the composition settles into a stable triangle: the eye enters at the vase, rises through the flowers, then drops to the fruit. Notice that the vase is not pure white. It is described as sitting in a cool shadow family, so the brightest object still belongs to the surrounding color.

key decision

The painter built impasto into the flower heads and kept the blue-green background thin and transparent, so depth comes from paint handling rather than detail or hard edges.

recreation guide

David Burliuk’s 'Flowers in white vase' (1956) is a post-Impressionist oil painting that likely reflects his mature period’s engagement with color theory and compositional structure. While specific visual details of this particular 1956 work are not described in the provided sources, Burliuk’s general practice as a Post-Impressionist suggests a focus on expressive color harmony and structural composition rather than strict naturalism. The artwork likely employs the principles of visual ordering, where elements like line, shape, and color relate to create a unified whole (Source 2). The painting’s title suggests a still-life genre, which traditionally allows for controlled experimentation with light, shadow, and color contrast.

estimated time

15-25 hours over 4-6 sessions

materials

5 items

steps

7 in sequence

materials

item	purpose	modern equivalent
Oil paints (primary set: Ultramarine, White, Black, plus reds and yellows)	For creating the grisaille underpainting and subsequent glazes/scumbles	—
Canvas	Support for the oil painting	—
Oil of Copavia (or modern linseed/stand oil)	Medium for the first and second paintings, as per historical methods cited	Stand oil or walnut oil
Varnish	For mixing with oil in later glazing stages to gain mastery over transparency	Dammar varnish
Brushes (various sizes)	For applying underpainting, glazes, and scumbles	—

preparation

surface prep

Prepare the canvas with a standard gesso ground. While the sources do not specify Burliuk’s exact ground preparation for this 1956 work, traditional oil painting practice involves ensuring the surface is smooth and sealed to accept the oil medium. The sources emphasize the importance of the medium’s vitality, suggesting the ground should not be overly absorbent to allow for the manipulation of glazes and scumbles (Source 3).

underdrawing

The sources do not provide specific information on Burliuk’s underdrawing techniques for this period. However, general composition principles suggest establishing a center of interest and avoiding exact bisections of the picture space (Source 7). A light charcoal or thinned oil sketch would likely be used to map the vase and flowers, ensuring the prominent subject is off-center to balance the composition (Source 7).

underpainting

Create a monochrome underpainting (grisaille) using black, ultramarine, and white mixed with oil of copavia (Source 1). This step involves mentally extracting red and yellow colors to establish the value structure of the painting (Source 1). This grisaille serves as the foundation for subsequent color layers, allowing the artist to focus on form and light before introducing hue.

color palette

Ultramarine

Pure pigment

Underpainting and cool shadows, consistent with the method described by Sir Joshua Reynolds (Source 1)

White

Pure pigment

Highlights and mixing with other colors to create tints; note that adding white can shift hues toward blue, requiring correction with adjacent colors (Source 5)

Black

Pure pigment

Underpainting and darkening values; however, adding black can shift hues toward greenish or bluish tones, so use with caution or prefer complementary mixing for darkening (Source 5)

Reds and Yellows

Various red and yellow pigments

Glazing and scumbling over the dry grisaille to introduce color, mimicking the tinting of an engraving (Source 1)

composition

The composition should avoid exact bisections and ensure the subject (the vase and flowers) is off-center unless a symmetrical formal composition is intended (Source 7). Use detailed areas and 'rest' areas to guide the viewer’s eye, creating a contrast between detail and lack of detail (Source 7). The arrangement should prevent the work from becoming a mere pattern by establishing a clear center of interest (Source 7). Spaces between objects should vary to create visual interest (Source 7).

step by step

underdrawing→underpainting→first pass→refining→finishing→varnishing

underdrawing

step 01
Sketch the composition lightly, ensuring the vase is off-center and the eye is led around the elements before exiting the picture.
Tip — Avoid exact bisections and ensure varied spacing between objects.
Compositional planning

underpainting

step 02
Apply a grisaille using black, ultramarine, and white mixed with oil of copavia. Focus on values, mentally excluding red and yellow tones.
Tip — Ensure the grisaille is completely dry before proceeding to avoid muddying the subsequent glazes.
Monochrome underpainting

first pass

step 03
Begin glazing and scumbling with oil. Apply transparent coats of red and yellow tones over the grisaille, similar to tinting an engraving.
Tip — Glazing is a transparent coat of color; ensure the underlying painting remains visible.
Glazing

refining

step 04
Use scumbling (semi-opaque painting) to adjust tones, particularly over darker grounds to achieve coldness or grey blooms.
Tip — Scumbling allows the underlying painting to show through; use it to modify color temperature and value.
Scumbling
step 05
Adjust color harmony by considering simultaneous contrast. Be aware that adjacent colors will influence each other’s appearance.
Tip — The eye may perceive colors differently due to the influence of neighboring hues; adjust accordingly.
Simultaneous contrast

finishing

step 06
Correct any hue shifts caused by adding white or black. If lightening a color causes a blue shift, add a small amount of an adjacent color to correct it.
Tip — Adding white to reds/oranges can shift them blue; add orange to correct. Adding black can shift yellows/oranges green/blue; use complements to darken instead.
Color correction

varnishing

step 07
Once the painting is dry, apply a varnish if desired, or mix varnish with oil for final glazes to gain mastery over transparency.
Tip — Varnish can enhance depth and protect the painting; ensure the paint is fully dry.
Varnishing

critical techniques

Glazing and Scumbling

Glazing involves applying transparent coats of color, while scumbling uses semi-opaque paint to allow the underpainting to show through. These techniques were used by old masters and are recommended for achieving depth and color harmony (Source 1).

Simultaneous Contrast

Understanding that adjacent colors influence each other’s appearance helps in achieving accurate color perception and harmony. This is crucial for avoiding inaccuracies in color representation (Source 4).

Color Mixing and Correction

When mixing colors, be aware that adding white or black can shift hues. Use complementary colors to darken without shifting hue, and adjacent colors to correct hue shifts when lightening (Source 5).

common pitfalls

→Adding black to darken colors can cause unwanted hue shifts toward green or blue (Source 5).
→Adding white to lighten colors can cause hue shifts toward blue, especially with reds and oranges (Source 5).
→Failing to let the grisaille dry completely before glazing can result in muddy colors (Source 1).
→Ignoring simultaneous contrast can lead to inaccurate color perception and disharmony (Source 4).
→Creating a composition with exact bisections or uniform spacing can result in a static, pattern-like appearance (Source 7).

what the sources don't tell us

Where the corpus is silent, we say so rather than guess. These are the gaps a complete recreation guide would normally cover that our source passages don't.

·Specific visual details of the flowers and vase in this 1956 painting are not described in the sources.
·Burliuk’s specific palette preferences for this period are not detailed; the guide relies on general oil painting practices and the cited sources.
·The exact medium Burliuk used in 1956 is not specified; the guide assumes traditional oil painting methods as described in the sources.
·Information on Burliuk’s specific brushwork or stroke style is not available in the provided sources.

grounded in

The technical procedure in this guide traces to the following classical art-instruction texts.

The Practice of Oil Painting↗
- COLOURING A MONOCHROME — applied to Underpainting, glazing, scumbling, and varnishing techniques
The Practice and Science of Drawing↗
- XX MATERIALS — applied to Importance of medium and avoiding mere illusion
Laws of Contrast of Colour↗
- 315-318 — applied to Simultaneous contrast and color perception

cross-referenced from

Named facts about this artwork and artist were checked against these reference pages.

Wikipedia: Composition (visual arts)↗
- part 1 and part 6 — applied to Compositional principles, center of interest, and spacing
Wikipedia: Color theory↗
- part 6 — applied to Color mixing, hue shifts, and correction techniques

Read more about the corpus on the sources page and how the guides are built on the methods page.

read from the painting

observed from the image, not the label

6 dominant colors, measured

what the eye sees

The composition centers on a cream-white vase brimming with mixed flowers—white daisies, golden yellows, deep burgundies, and purples—set against a luminous blue-green atmospheric background that suggests a landscape with trees. Scattered fruits (apples in reds and yellows) rest casually in front. Light appears to rake from the upper left, throwing the vase and brightest flower heads into sharp relief against the cooler shadowed background. The eye enters through the white vase and travels upward through the flower cluster, then down to the fruit group, creating a stable triangular anchor.

value structure

The painting is built on a dominant cool-toned middle value (the blue-green background and shadowed vase areas) with two clear value peaks: the brilliant whites of the flowers and vase create the brightest accent, while the dark purples, deep greens, and shadowed stem areas drop to the darkest darks. The fruits introduce a warm mid-dark value bridge between foreground and background. Squint and you see three strong value zones—dark (stems, shadows), mid (background, fruit), bright (vase and white flowers).

observed palette and mixes

#9ab2b3
white + ultramarine blue + touch of viridian
the white vase body and shadow-side highlights
#7b969d
cerulean blue + white + viridian
cool mid-tone shadows throughout vase and stems
#657c89
ultramarine + viridian + gray
background atmosphere and distant landscape masses
#3e5d75
ultramarine + alizarin + touch of black
the deepest shadows in foliage and dark flower centers
#324255
ultramarine + viridian + alizarin, heavily mixed
the darkest accents—tree trunk on right edge, deep shadow areas
#606164
raw umber + ultramarine
warm-neutral tones in fruit and shadow areas on table surface

edges and brushwork

Every edge is deliberately broken and soft, particularly in the background where broad horizontal sweeps of blue-green blur into one another. Flowers show more definition where bright petals meet dark stems, but even these are handled with loose, directional strokes rather than tight outlines. Heavy impasto is visible in the flower heads—paint is applied thickly and left unblended—while the background remains thinner and more transparent, creating atmospheric recession through paint handling alone.

a working sequence

01
Establish the field
Tone your canvas with a thin wash of mixed blue-greens (cerulean and viridian in the cooler upper area, warming to more yellow-green in the lower third where the foreground table sits). Leave no white canvas showing. This unifies your color temperature from the start and makes all subsequent colors sing against it.
02
Block the vase and composition
Using thinned paint, loosely indicate the white vase shape and the general position of the three flower clusters (bright center-top, dark purples to the right, yellows to the left). Indicate the fruit group as simple ovals below. Work proportionally—the vase height should relate clearly to the flower mass height; do not overcomplicate.
03
Develop the landscape background
With horizontal, gestural strokes, suggest the rolling landscape using variations of blue-green mixed on your palette—cooler toward the top sky area, slightly warmer and darker toward the middle distance. Suggest tree forms on the right edge with vertical dark marks (ultramarine + viridian + alizarin) but keep them atmospheric, not detailed. The background should feel like a veil behind the flowers.
04
Model the vase in shadow
Begin rendering the vase by laying cool shadow tones on its right side and underside using whites mixed with ultramarine and viridian. Leave the left-facing surfaces of the vase lighter and brighter, but avoid pure white—all tones should have color. Define the vase rim and handle with confident, economical lines.
05
Paint the white and yellow flowers
Establish the brightest flowers using opaque white applied thickly—let brushstrokes show and don't overblend. The white petals catch light directionally; suggest form through value shifts within the cluster rather than individual petal rendering. Add soft yellow tones to some flowers and yellows to the left cluster; these warmer flowers will pop against the cool background.
06
Add the dark purples and burgundies
Mix rich darks from alizarin crimson and ultramarine, varying the ratio to shift between warmer and cooler purples. Place these on the right side of the arrangement and scattered through the center. These darks anchor the composition and make the bright flowers advance. Use thick paint and visible strokes; let the dark petals sit bold and unblended.
07
Paint the fruit and foreground
Render the scattered apples and fruits with reds, yellows, and warm browns applied directly, using shadow tones (alizarin + ultramarine) to create dimension. Keep the fruit arrangement loose and gestural, not photographic. The foreground table surface should remain cool and shadowed, unifying with the overall blue-green tonality.
08
Integrate and refine
Step back and check value relationships: are the whites reading bright enough? Are the dark purples receding or advancing correctly? Adjust the stem and leaf greens (viridian + yellows or ultramarine + yellows) with quick linear strokes to suggest growth and connect the arrangement. Final passes: reinforce the brightest flower centers, deepen any shadows that feel weak, and ensure the vase feels solid and three-dimensional relative to the background.

where studies of this painting go wrong

Overworking the background—it must remain atmospheric and loose, serving as a cool foil to the warm flowers. Stop before you feel it's finished.
Painting each flower as an isolated object rather than as part of a cohesive mass; the arrangement should read as one vibrant cluster, not separate blooms.
Making the white vase too stark or pure white; it belongs in the cool shadow family and needs blue and green undertones to harmonize with the rest of the palette.
Losing the dark purple and burgundy accents—these are critical to value contrast and anchor the otherwise light-filled composition. Don't dilute them or blend them into mush.
Overemphasizing the fruit arrangement so it competes with the vase and flowers; it should complement and stabilize, not dominate.

measured difficulty