Although Redon worked almost exclusively in black and white until he was fifty years old, he later became a bold and original colorist. He often painted macabre and supernatural subjects, and here a conventional still-life motif appears almost otherworldly, with the vase floating in ambiguous space and the colors more brilliant than any found in nature. Pastel produces deep, radiant hues, and Redon has maximized their intensity by juxtaposing complementary colors (yellow and purple, green and red), so that the flowers fairly glow.
