Zinnias (1911)

William Nicholson is the artist behind "Zinnias", dated 1911. Still Life in brief: Still life, the arrangement of flowers, fruit, tableware, and other objects, became a distinct genre in the Netherlands and Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Dutch vanitas paintings used objects such as skulls, candles, and wilting flowers to remind viewers that time passes. Historical background, 1911: Dada and Surrealism followed the First World War, the Bauhaus school was founded in 1919, and Art Deco became the fashionable decorative style of the 1920s and 1930s. The first decades of the twentieth century were a period of rapid experiment, with Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, and the first abstract painting appearing within a few years of each other. The catalogue places it in Still Life. The format is portrait.

Buying "Zinnias" means getting a digital file, not a physical print: Digital JPEG + PDF files, 300 DPI, delivered by email once payment is confirmed. A 300 DPI file is intended for printing at home or at a local print shop, where you can choose a matte, satin, or fine-art paper to suit the room. A portrait format suits narrow wall spaces, hallways, and the area beside a door or window. A simple frame with a mat often helps an image settle comfortably into a room. Choosing a standard frame size and printing to fit it often saves the cost of custom framing. Screens and printers render colour differently, so a small test print is a sensible way to check tones before committing to a large size. Hang the print away from direct sunlight, which over the years can fade any printed colour.

English, 1872–1949

If you like the visual language of William Nicholson, explore more works by the same artist in our collection.