David Bomberg

Acquired by the family of the present owner prior to 1978, and thence by descent

Sheffield, Millennium Gallery, Sheffield Museums (on loan from March 2023 - August 2026)

Sheffield, Millennium Gallery, Sheffield Museums, Dutch Flower Paintings: Exploring Art in Bloom, 22 June - 17 September 2023

The Tate Gallery has a similar painting from 1943 in its collection, titled Flowers (N06133). These flower paintings from the early 1940s occupy an interesting place in his oeuvre: Bomberg was unfortunately rejected by the War Artist's Advisory Committee. In 1942 he was commissioned to make a painting of a bombstore, but the resulting work was considered to be too imaginative. Between 1939 and 1944, he applied (unsuccessfully) for over three hundred teaching posts, in the hope of finding a position more sympathetic to his own artistic ideals. Despondent, his wife Lilian hoped to cheer him up by bringing home flowers. He then painted a number of works of this subject in 1943, and continued to buy flowers from the early morning market at Covent Garden.

The flower pictures of this time share the explosive energy of the bombstore subjects and indicate Bomberg's renewed vigour and enjoyment of painting. The present lot features pink and purple blooms and a flurry of marks which compose the background, suggesting the artist's energetic approach to and enjoyment of painting this subject.