Wildflowers

Name/Title

Wildflowers

Entry/Object ID

2025.07.01

Description

Painting of wildflowers and grass against a dark background

Artwork Details

Medium

Oil on Canvas

Subject

Wildflowers

Context

"This painting is part of an ongoing series of wildflower paintings that I started during Covid. The painting references a gradual passing of time while depicting a view looking down on a single area of ground. Wildflowers are resilient - existing both in forests and next to highways. They are often the first thing to grow back after a wildfire. There is an element of documenting and living with what is right in front of you in these paintings and they are derived from places that I know intimately. Their locations are intentionally ambiguous, moving from one place to the next without a sense of exact location." - Claire Sherman While Sherman’s earlier landscape paintings often conveyed a vast, expansive view of the natural world—suggesting openness, movement, and a broader environmental perspective—the works she created in 2020 marked a significant shift. These newer paintings turned their gaze downward, focusing closely on the ground. The compositions became more enclosed, introspective, and at times even claustrophobic. This change reflects not only a formal pivot but also an emotional and psychological one, echoing the collective contraction of space and sense of confinement experienced during the early months of the pandemic.

Acquisition

Accession

2025.07

Source or Donor

PATRON Gallery, Claire Sherman

Acquisition Method

Gift

Credit Line

Gift of the artist and Patron Gallery

Made/Created

Artist

Claire Sherman

Date made

2020

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Painting

Nomenclature Class

Art

Nomenclature Category

Category 08: Communication Objects

Getty AAT

Concept

flower (motif), plant-derived motifs, motifs, design elements (attributes)

Hierarchy Name

Design Elements (hierarchy name)

Facet

Physical Attributes Facet

LOC Thesaurus for Graphic Materials

Wildflowers, Isolation, Forests, Forest fires

Dimensions

Height

30 in

Width

24 in

Depth

2 in

Color

Brown, Green