Orchid and Hummingbird

Martin Johnson Heade

Martin Johnson Heade is one of a number of American artists who have been grouped together as “luminists.” Although these artists never worked as a school—they did not necessarily know one another—their work shares a number of formal characteristics: pronounced horizontal format, absence of visible brushstrokes, and close attention to the qualities and effects of light.

Orchid and Hummingbird by Martin Johnson Heade

What can artists teach us about faraway places?

At the painting’s center, a brilliant green and fuchsia hummingbird, painted life size, perches on the leaf of a Cattleya orchid. The orchid, a starburst of cotton-candy pink, is rooted onto the branch of a tree that is almost overgrown with moss and vines. The branch extends back and around to frame the bird and flower against the fully realized landscape of a South American mountain lake under a humid and stormy sky.
Medium
Oil on canvas
Credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd

Item ID
1979.7.49
Dimensions
15 1/8 x 20 1/4 in. (38.4 x 51.4 cm)
Date
ca. 1885
Country
Artist name
Martin Johnson Heade
Artwork location