Paul Cézanne

Tulips in a Vase, c.1890, Oil on canvas, 59.6 x 42.3 cm, Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection; 1933.423, Art Institute of Chicago / Bridgeman Images

Consider the Lilies of the Field

Commentary by Elizabeth Powell

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Read by Ben Quash

In Paul Cézanne’s still-life paintings, ordinary domestic objects—here a bouquet of flowers and assortment of stray oranges—become the objects of contemplation. As viewers of this painting, we have nothing to do but look, and delight in, these forms of everyday life.

The Vase of Tulips is cheerful and serene as a field of floral colours emerges within a luminous environ of turquoise blues and lavender pinks. Delicate yellow meadow flowers jostle with white daisies, while red annunciatory tulips open triumphantly within a jungle of leaves. The clay vase in which they rest is clothed in a green glaze that mirrors the viridity of the life it contains.

This still-life painting enjoins us, with the Gospels, to be still and ‘consider the lilies of the field’ (Matthew 6:28; Luke 12:27). Without silent contemplation, the inherent beauty and radiance of such everyday objects remain mute, and ourselves unchanged. From his own sustained practice of sitting before Cézanne’s paintings, the poet, Rainer Maria Rilke, articulated the wisdom he discerned thus:

[H]ow related one thing is to the next, how it gives birth to itself and grows up and is educated in its own nature, and all we basically have to do is to be, but simply, earnestly, the way the earth simply is, … not asking to rest upon anything other than the net of influences and forces in which the stars feel secure. (Rilke 2002: 69)

The art of still-life invites us to return to the miracle of the present moment, to remember amidst the everyday troubles of life that ‘there is a today; it is’ (Kierkegaard 2018: 76). What might it mean for us to ‘still’ our own lives so as to discover anew the daily gift and wonder of existence? Matthew 6 suggests that to ‘strive first for the kingdom of God’ (v.33; Luke 12:31) is, paradoxically, to learn the art of resting upon the Father in all things.

 

References

Kierkegaard, Søren. 2018. The Lily of the Field and the Bird of the Air: Three Godly Discourses, trans. by Bruce H. Kirmmse (Princeton: Princeton University Press)

Rilke, Rainer Maria. 2002. Letters on Cézanne, ed. by Clara Rilke, trans. by Joel Agee (New York: North Point Press)

See full exhibition for Matthew 6:16–34; Luke 12:22–34

Matthew 6:16–34; Luke 12:22–34

Revised Standard Version

Matthew 6

16 “And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, 20but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; 23but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life? 28And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith? 31Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.

34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day.

Luke 12

22 And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat, nor about your body, what you shall put on. 23For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25And which of you by being anxious can add a cubit to his span of life? 26If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? 27Consider the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28But if God so clothes the grass which is alive in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O men of little faith! 29And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be of anxious mind. 30For all the nations of the world seek these things; and your Father knows that you need them. 31Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things shall be yours as well.

32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions, and give alms; provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

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