A Swiss Modernist Painter

Red Poppies in a Purple Vase, 1948, watercolor on paper, 27 x 32.5 cm (R.), 10.5 x 14.7 cm (top right)

Red Poppies in a Purple Vase, 1948

In 1948, Evard took up the poppy motif several times; here he uses watercolor painting. In this version, too, he depicts bright red poppies in a vase. As in another work from the same year, he renders the background in white and the suggested tabletop in yellow. He presents the lush poppies as filling the picture; the red of the petals is the dominant hue. The poppy symbolically stands for remembrance, commemoration, and peace, but also for sleep and death. The choice of this motif in 1948 may therefore also be interpreted in light of the end of World War II. Thus, this quiet work may also bear witness to Evard’s engagement with commemorating death and his desire for peace. Following this reading, one may also think of the poet Paul Celan (1920–1970), who repeatedly used the silent, fragile flower in his poetry as a symbol of suffering and remembrance.