Frederick Carl Frieseke: Hollyhocks

During the first two decades of the 20^th century Frieseke isolated himself at Le Hameau, a house adjacent to Monet’s at Giverny, and painted images of a garden world…The theme of the monumental, graceful woman with a parasol appeared often in Monet’s and Renoir’s works of the 1870s and 1880s and in Frieseke’s oeuvre between 1909 and 1915…In this composition the centrally-located figure of the woman, probably modelled on Frieseke’s wife, is articulated in a smooth, unbroken mass. Frieseke framed her curvilinear shape against a vertical and horizontal grid of flowers and pathways and played her solidity off against the decorative background of small, scintillating brushstrokes. Considerations of design were foremost in the artist’s method. Through a symmetrical treatment of the square canvas, he emphasised the flat, decorative quality of the surface and floated the figure upon it. Around her-the solid and centrally placed female figure-revolves the entire composition.
El Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza