Marchandes de fleurs

Olga Boznanska painted this in 1889 and signed it in the top corner, Olga Boznanska 89. She was 23, a Polish woman studying art in Munich, and the road there had been blocked at the front door. The city's state Academy did not admit women, so like other ambitious young women she paid her way through private studios instead, learning from working painters one room at a time. That same year she finally rented a studio of her own and set up as an independent artist. The picture shows flower sellers with their blooms, an everyday city scene. In 1898 she moved on to Paris and stayed for the rest of her life, painting the soft, grayed, quiet portraits that became her signature.