Featured Painting – California Poppies

California Poppies by Benjamin Brown

Title: California Poppies

Artist: Benjamin Chambers Brown (1865-1942)

Date: c. 1920

Medium: Oil paint on canvas

Dimensions: H: 10 in., W: 14 in.

Collection: Fenyes-Curtin-Paloheimo

Object ID: 2000.019.0082

Credit Line: Gift of The Y.A. and Leonora Curtin Paloheimo Trust

Notes: Benjamin Chambers Brown was known as “The Dean of Pasadena Painters.” For almost five decades, he was the leader of Pasadena’s artistic and intellectual community. He often drew inspiration from the beautiful California landscapes. California Poppies shows the San Gabriel foothills aglow with the bright colors of poppies in full bloom.

Eva Fenyes and Benjamin Brown were good friends, as seen through surviving correspondence and photographs in our holdings. They corresponded and painted together in her garden as well as on outings and excursions.