Johannes Võerahansu
1902 - 1980
Field Flowers in a Vase. 1959
Oil, canvas on cardboard. 81 x 64.5 cm (framed)
price 25 200
By the end of the 1950s, the situation of Estonian artists was gradually improving. Ideological prescriptions were no longer so strict, and artists had better access to, for example, paints. Võerahansu has seized this opportunity with the same enthusiasm as the drowning man who came up to the surface. His painting seems to use all the colours available at the time, the floral bouquet bursting with colour and life, its lushness so overwhelming that some flowers have fallen onto the table. Võerahansu’s painting is a classic still life on the one hand, and a manifesto of freedom and joie de vivre on the other. The abundant use of white, always a symbol of innocence, is striking, also suggesting a particularly optimistic and hopeful attitude, all wrapped up in a simple bouquet of flowers.