Spring Bouquet in a Blue Chinese Vase — Renoir, 1866 Postcard

A monumental blue-and-white Chinese vase holds peonies, lilac and irises in a single, ambitious bouquet — the kind of canvas a twenty-five-year-old painter makes to announce that he is serious. Painted in 1866, this early still life is one of Renoir's most ambitious early works, today in the Harvard Art Museums (Fogg).

The card is for friends who love spring florals, for a major thank-you, and for the kind of letter that wants to carry weight.

Browse the full Renoir postcard collection.