Details

Object type

painting

Title

Butterflies

Artist/Maker

Matthijs Maris artist

Culture/School

Dutch

Date

1874

Materials

oil on canvas

Dimensions

framed: 1010 mm x 1350 mm x 70 mm; unframed: 648 mm x 991 mm

Description

One of Matthijs Maris’ most celebrated paintings, ‘Butterflies’ is also known as ‘Un rêve’ or ‘Rêverie’- ‘A Dream’ or ‘Dreaming’ in French. The young girl reclining on the ground is smiling wistfully at two bright butterflies- one red and one yellow- as she holds a white flower in one hand, the other reaching upwards as if about to touch the winged insects.

The bright blue of her long dress, along with the vivid colour of the butterflies and her red hair, creates a dramatic contrast against the subtle monochrome and pale green of the rest of the composition. These muted colours are typical of Maris, whose style belonged to the Dutch Hague School, otherwise known as the ‘Grey School’. Maris’ depiction of the girl is not especially realistic. Instead, by simplifying the composition and including details like the black outline around the girl’s dress, hands and face, Maris creates a somewhat stylised effect.

Maris depicted a young girl entranced by butterflies a number of times, including in a drawing now at the Gemeentemuseum, Hague, and two paintings, one of which is at the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The theme could represent the transience of childhood: like butterflies, the innocence of youth does not stay around for very long. Alfred Temple, Director of London Guildhall, described the painting as ‘the personification of childhood, in form as bright, and in thought as innocent, as the fluttering beauties about her.’

Although at the time there was talk of the painting going to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, William Burrell snapped it up for his own collection in 1898

Credit Line/Donor

Gifted by Sir William and Lady Burrell to the City of Glasgow, 1944

Collection

Burrell Collection: Pictures [Oils, Pastels and Watercolours]

ID Number

35.330

Location

Burrell Collection