A Forgotten Flower Painter: Marie-Alexandrine-Olimpe Arson
Marie-Alexandrine-Olimpe Arson, Flowering Cactus , about 1840. J. Paul Getty Museum The Getty Museum has acquired a watercolor Flowering Cactus by Marie-Alexandrine-Olimpe Arson (1814–1901). Pupil, collaborator, and protégé of famed flower painter Pierre-Joseph Redouté, Arson became the youngest artist ever to win a medal at the Salon (she was 21). Yet Arson's brilliant career ended just five years later. In 1840, after the death of Redouté, she entered the convent of Neuilly-sur-Indre. There she taught drawing and lived another 61 years in obscurity. The Louvre holds nothing of Arson's output. The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, has her Bunch of Centifolio Roses , signed and dated 1832. That early watercolor has the plain white background associated with Redouté and botanical illustration. In later work Arson veered towards still life. A Basket of Flowers (1839), sold at Christie's in 2022, is shown on a ledge in the corner of a garden. The lush effect is completely di...
