Vase with red and white carnation on a yellow background

When Van Gogh reached Paris in 1886, his palette was still mostly the brown of the Dutch countryside he had left behind. That summer he set himself a practical task: he bought cut flowers by the armful and painted them, one bunch after another, to learn what strong colour could do beside strong colour. This vase of carnations is one of those studies. He sets warm red against cool white, then places the whole bouquet on a flat yellow ground so the reds push forward and the white holds back. There is no symbolism here, only a painter retraining his own eye. He worked through dozens of these flower pieces across that one Paris summer, running roses, asters and carnations like colour drills.