Bidspirit auction | Yosl Bergner

Yosl Bergner - Still Life with Flowers. Oil on canvas, 30 × 40 cm. Signed and framed. The work comes from a collector in Caesarea who was the owner of Eshel Gallery. An intimate yet powerful work by Yosl Bergner, one of the most significant and beloved figures in Israeli art. This still life with flowers embodies Bergner's distinctive painterly language—emotional, free, and imbued with profound psychological depth. Set against a rich, deep blue background, the composition brings together an arrangement of vessels—jugs, vases, and simple household containers—holding vibrant bouquets of flowers. The painting is constructed with thick, expressive brushstrokes that create a compelling tension between the rough materiality of the paint and the delicate fragility of the blossoms. The palette is concentrated yet dramatic, while the light seems to emanate from within the painting itself, lending the objects an almost theatrical presence. Although Bergner is perhaps best known for the symbolic figures and everyday objects that populate his imaginative worlds, his still lifes reveal the same sensitivity and humanity that define his broader body of work. In this painting, ordinary objects are transformed into quiet protagonists, charged with memory, emotion, and poetic resonance. A work of warmth and presence, this painting offers collectors the opportunity to acquire a refined and deeply personal example of Bergner's enduring artistic vision, enhanced by its provenance from the former owner of Eshel Gallery in Caesarea.