In Maria Marta Morelli‘s unique oil paintings, delicate peonies — and sometimes other flowers — bloom almost through the canvas. These artworks not only demonstrate the artist’s fascination with nature, the cycle of time, and how flowers convey youthfulness but also, according to her, 'the unbearable finitude of life.' With their incredible, though fleeting, beauty and freshness, she says, flowers fill us with hope and convince us that life is worth living.
Morelli is very much interested in the cycle of life and times and, additionally, considers herself an environmental painter, focused on Mother Nature's beauty. She finds beauty in every natural object, under natural light, and can't help painting them. Of these objects, she meticulously paints every single detail she sees and uses strong contrasts between light and shadows as a visual effect to attract the audience's attention and show them the extreme reality.
Maria Marta Morelli’s Passion for Bringing Flowers to Life on Canvas
Born in Buenos Aires, the Italian-Argentine artist studied graphic design at Buenos Aires University and then obtained the Artisan Professor degree at Normal nº 6 Superior School in Buenos Aires. She focused on classic oil painting, attending classes with many artists, and discovering contemporary realistic art. For her, Marcos Borio and Juan Lascano were the most influential teachers in Argentina, awakening the fascination for classic still life and realism in art.
In addition, visiting the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and Uffizi Gallery in Florence left a strong impression, on Morelli, confirming her passion for the Old Dutch Masters and Italian Renaissance. She made several commissions for private collectors, including a new version of Vincenzo Maganza's painting (from 1650) for one of the organs' doors in The Oude Kerk (Old Church) in Amsterdam, as well as many other still life and flower paintings for collectors around the world.
The artist has, also, participated in exhibitions and auctions in Argentina, the Netherlands, the USA, and Taiwan. She teaches art classes at a studio in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and conducts painting workshops around the country and in Rome, Italy.
Since 2020, she has been offering online art classes, reaching students from all over the world through English, Italian, and Spanish languages. Teaching, she says, is an integral part of her creative work. She has, likewise, developed her own style based on classic realism.
Maria Marta Morelli:
"I have painted all my life since I can remember and my home during childhood has been a great artistic inspiration to me since my father, being a pianist and organist, provided my brothers and me with constant classical music classes, piano, and singing. I grew up in an Italian immigrant family of the 20th century, where hard work was the rule and they wanted a better life for their children and grandchildren with higher education and culture than they had."
Creating the Fascinating Flower Paintings
Morelli continues to fascinate art enthusiasts with her stunning large-scale paintings of peonies and roses, and her works continue the long-standing tradition of flower art, reminiscent of masterpieces by Monet and Van Gogh. Her fascination with the flowers she epitomizes in her paintings, she insists, stems from her deep appreciation for nature’s beauty and the cycle of time. She describes herself as an environmental painter, focusing on the ephemeral qualities of flowers, which symbolize youth, sensuality, tenderness, splendor, passion, love, and the fleeting nature of life.
Her artistic process is thorough, often spending over 40 hours on a single painting, using layers of oil paint to capture every tiny detail, and rendering her subjects with a level of realism that makes them appear almost touchable. Her compositions typically feature a combination of blossoms and fully bloomed flowers, allowing her to depict different stages of a flower’s life on one canvas. This approach not only showcases the beauty of the flowers but also highlights their transient nature.
The artist’s keen observation and dedication to realism are evident in her work, where she carefully studies her subjects, breaking them down into small pieces like a puzzle to understand their color, value, and shapes. This methodical approach results in paintings that celebrate the ephemeral beauty of nature, encouraging one to pause and appreciate the sometimes overlooked beauty of flowers.
Flowers Reflect a Life Worth Living
Flowers represent youth, sensuality, tenderness, splendor, passion, love, and beauty, but at the same time, they represent the unbearable finitude of life. However with their incredible beauty and freshness, although transitory, they fill us with hope and convince us that life is worth living. Such is what Morelli strives to demonstrate in her oil paintings of peonies, which are generally seasonal and available from late spring to early summer.
Showing the Beauty of Each Stage of Life
The flowers Morelli usually paints, like peonies and roses, have a structure with enveloping petals, tender like the arms of a mother embracing her child and also sensual like a woman’s body. She likes to think of these curved structures as the beautiful female bodies from the Renaissance period. Her favorite compositions are the ones that have a variety of colors and shapes, with flowers that begin to wither combined with fresher ones and buds as well - showing the beauty of each stage of life.
Flowers also have a positive meaning in themselves. When someone gives you flowers, they are saying to you: 'I love you', 'I admire you', 'Thank you', 'Forgive me', 'I desire you', 'You are unique', among numerous other messages. This is the kind of positive message that Morelli wants to transmit to the viewers of her paintings.
Maria Marta Morelli:
"Through my paintings I expect people to stop for a while in their hurried lives and admire the great beauty in nature which is usually taken for granted."
You can discover more about the artist on her website or keep up with her latest paintings on Instagram.
All photos courtesy of Maria Marta Morelli (@mariamarta_morelli)
