Borie merged the realist approach that he learned at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with the casual elegance, luminous color, and painterly sophistication of French Impressionism. A luxurious pink peony or rose draws the eye to the center of the painting, while an arc of violet blooms deliberately throws his composition off balance. Borie explores the effects of light as it falls on the varied textures of the urn and flowers and glows from the opalescent “ground.” He creates the effect of monumentality, with the trophy bouquet towering within a seeming landscape.
Woodmere purchased Flowers in an Urn at auction in 2018 from the collection of Dorrance “Dodo” Hill Hamilton (1928–2017), a great philanthropist and supporter of Woodmere and all the art museums of Philadelphia.
