“La Primavera”

Artist: Rosana Auqué
Year: 2020
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 100 × 50 cm

La Primavera (2020) – The Origin of a Landscape Practice

“La Primavera” is the first official landscape painting by Rosana Auqué. Created in 2020 during the global pandemic, this acrylic on canvas marks the beginning of a decisive shift in her artistic language. Measuring 100 x 50 cm, the work stands as both an intimate testimony and a foundational piece within her body of work.

Painted while confined in her Milan apartment, the artwork represents the moment when isolation transformed into creative expansion. It is not merely a floral landscape; it is the origin of an ongoing exploration of skies, flowers, color harmonies, and emotional atmospheres that would later define much of her practice.

Currently held in a private collection in Colombia, La Primavera remains a pivotal work in understanding the evolution of Rosana Auqué’s contemporary art.

A Painting Born in Confinement

In 2020, during the lockdown in Milan, daily life slowed to silence. Within that stillness, creativity began to occupy space. La Primavera emerged from that period of introspection.

The flowers in this composition are rendered without expectation or decorative intention. They are honest, almost naïve in their directness. Their simplicity is not accidental; it reflects a conscious stripping away of complexity. The painting does not seek drama. Instead, it proposes balance.

The vertical format (100 x 50 cm) reinforces the sensation of ascension, of growth. The sky and floral elements coexist without hierarchy, suggesting an equilibrium between earth and atmosphere. This structural clarity would later become a recurring characteristic in Rosana Auqué’s landscapes.

Music, Rhythm and Vivaldi’s “Primavera”

While painting this work, Rosana Auqué was listening to Antonio Vivaldi’s “Primavera” from The Four Seasons. The musical variations, the sudden melodic turns, and the vibrant shifts in tempo deeply influenced the rhythm of the brushstrokes.

The composition reflects this musical structure. There are visual pauses, color accelerations, and unexpected tonal transitions. The painting attempts to translate sound into color — not literally, but emotionally.

Just as Vivaldi’s composition moves between delicacy and intensity, La Primavera balances softness with chromatic intelligence. The color palette is intuitive yet carefully orchestrated, revealing a sophisticated understanding of harmony beneath its apparent simplicity.

Flowers and Skies as a Lifelong Fascination

This piece initiated Rosana Auqué’s ongoing fascination with flowers and skies — two elements that would continue to appear across multiple series.

In La Primavera, flowers are not botanical studies. They are symbolic presences. They stand for renewal, fragility, and resilience. The sky above them does not dominate; it shelters.

This relationship between grounded floral forms and open skies suggests a dialogue between containment and freedom — a theme that would later expand in other works and exhibitions.

Color Intelligence and Compositional Harmony

Although the painting may appear naïve at first glance, its structure reveals compositional maturity. The distribution of shapes, the balance of chromatic fields, and the modulation of light demonstrate a deliberate control.

Rosana Auqué often describes feeling deep harmony with this piece. That harmony is not sentimental; it is structural. The painting breathes.

The simplicity of the flowers allows color to take the leading role. The work does not rely on intricate detail. Instead, it trusts the emotional power of color relationships.

Artwork Details

Title: La Primavera

Artist: Rosana Auqué

Year: 2020

Medium: Acrylic on canvas

Dimensions: 100 x 50 cm

Location: Private collection, Colombia

Frequently Asked Questions