Bouquet of Yellow Daffodils

A big bunch of yellow daffodils with orange trumpets in a ribbed aqua glass vase, a few loose flowers on the table, and a deep maroon-brown background. The dark background makes the yellow blaze, an old still-life trick that still works. In oil, Volkov paints the petals with precision, and the stems seen through water and glass are a small study in refraction. It looks like the first day of spring.

• Artist: Ivan Volkov
• Medium: Oil on canvas
• Size: 60 × 50 cm (23.6 × 19.7 in), height × width
• Year: 2020
• Original: one of a kind, signed by the artist