Van Dongen returned to the subject of still lifes throughout his oeuvre and approached them with the same vigor as his portraits of women and Fauvist works which garnered him widespread recognition.  Vase de tulipes, executed in the 1930s, is a quintessential example of how Van Dongen evolved from his early Fauv🉐e works to ꧃develop a more commercially appealing palette.  In the present work, he has transformed a rendering of tulips into a picture infused with iconography and personal history. 

Van Dongen came to Paris in 1900 and shortly thereafter achieved much commercial success.  His work by the 1920s was well received by upper class Parisians and his finances and social status quickly improved.  The current work, however, references the artist’s humble origins in Rotterdam, Holland, represented by the windmills in the background of the composition.  Also, on the reverse of the work is the inscription ‘De kinderdyck’ which is a region of Rotterdam known for its windmills.  The background comprised of blended pink and red muted tones is juxtaposed by the bolder red and yellow colors in the foreground which are reminiscent of his Fauvist period.  Moreover, the work is carefully detailed and planned.  The artist included two fallen petals and a book entitled The Narrow Corner, by Somerset Maugham (1932).  Maugham, an English novel🍃ist, was immensely popular and was the world’s highest paid author of the 1930s and thus, would be commonly seen in most middle and upper class homes during that time in Europe.  The flowers which dominate the center of the canvas are erupting from their vase and appear to be spilling ov﷽er the edges of the canvas.  Van Dongen transforms a typically unassuming subject into a dynamic composition.