Fritillaria meleagris in tulip vase

A few weeks ago, I was talking to our friends Barbara and Ben about a painting that I wanted to make showing a traditional Dutch 'Delfts blue' tulip vase. I knew what kind of vase I wanted to paint, but I hadn't seen a flower that inspired me.

Barbara told me about Fritillaria meleagris, commonly called "snake's head" in English.

The flower really looks like a snake head! With its curvy leaves, everything about that flower looks so mysterious. I did some more research and learned that a different flower of the same family in Chinese medicine is used to cure a cough or itchy throat. Another surprise: I learned that Vincent van Gogh not only painted sunflowers, he also painted this flower when he stayed in France.

Van Gogh's painting is very bright and lively, but I wanted to do something dark, mysterious and elegant.

Oh and what made me very happy is that immediately after I finished the painting, it was sold to a collector in Taiwan!

Something a bit old, but the ideas are still new