Fleur de Lis

This painting- Fleur de Lis presents an elegant young woman surrounded by abundant flowering plants. The figure and vegetation occupy almost the entire canvas. The artwork thus produces an intimate composition in which the woman appears deeply integrated with her natural surroundings. The Metropolitan Museum notes that the painting recalls the “Smell” panel from Reid's Five Senses series at the Library of Congress. This connection is particularly important because it places Fleur de Lis within Reid's broader interest in representing sensory experience through female figures and decorative imagery. In Reid's Five Senses murals, each sense was represented by a beautiful young woman, with the figures presented in contemporary rather than strictly classical forms. Reid was one of the founding members of the Ten American Painters, a group of French-trained American artists associated with Impressionism. He was particularly known for decorative figure paintings showing elegant women surrounded by outdoor settings. The painting demonstrates this characteristic combination of figure painting, flowers, high-keyed colour and decorative Impressionist treatment. Rather than separating the woman from the landscape, Reid visually links the figure to the surrounding flowers. The floral setting is especially significant because flowers provide both the painting's dominant visual motif and a possible sensory association with smell. The connection to the Smell mural makes this interpretation considerably stronger than simply treating the flowers as decoration. Fleur de Lis therefore sits between easel painting and the larger decorative-mural tradition that became an important part of Reid's career. The work also illustrates Reid's distinctive treatment of women as graceful, idealized figures within richly coloured natural environments- a subject for which he became particularly well known.