Rose with a Bad Reputation: When Roses Don't Mean Love

Roses stand for love, right? So, a painting that features a rose prominently is probably all about romance. Don’t be too sure of that.

Yellow rose. Samuel Luke (1843–1927)

The imagery of a rose has been interwoven with love and romance for many centuries, but the presence of roses doesn’t automatically decipher a painting’s theme as a romantic one. Think about it, since a red rose is a symbol of love second only to the heart, why does the painter use a yellow rose instead?

What Do Roses Mean in Art?

Real yellow roses are beautiful, joyful flowers, but their reputation as a symbol leaves much to be desired. Let’s take a quick look at all you need to know about the rose’s symbolism in art.

The Victorians differentiated roses’ meanings by color. The more intense the color, the more intense the feelings. Simply put:

• Red roses – love, passion, devotion
• Pink roses – love, affection, admiration, feminine beauty
• White roses – innocence, silence, soul connection
• Yellow roses – jealousy, infidelity, enthusiasm, friendship

Yellow roses are arguably the only roses on this list that aren’t connected with romantic feelings. In more recent years, they’ve usually been taken to mean friendship, joy, or sympathy. After all, a sunny yellow rose looks happy and carefree. However, let’s not forget that in the Victorian language of flowers, these beautiful flowers meant infidelity and jealousy.

This meaning most likely derives from the symbolism of the color yellow, which was associated with envy, jealousy, treachery, and falseness. It’s also been used in expressions like “yellow-bellied” to describe a coward. This unsavory flavor of the word is seen in the expression “yellow journalism”, a term dating from the 19th century that described sensation-oriented, scandal-mongering reporting.

So, does all this have a bearing on art? Do yellow roses stand for jealousy or friendship? Or are roses in paintings just roses, there for beauty alone?

Let’s take a look.

Yellow Roses in Paintings

The Four Roses. 1903. František Dvořák (1862 - 1927)

The two girls depicted in this painting by Czech painter František Dvořák look almost like sisters, with their similar profiles and fluffy brown hair. While they may be friends, they seem to hardly notice each other, focusing entirely on two bright yellow roses and their fragrance. There’s even a sense of detachment and remoteness in the figures, although the one closer to the viewer looks more dreamy and pensive than haughty.

So, perhaps yellow roses are quite harmless in art, after all?

Jealousy. Eugene Grasset (1845 –1917)

Eugene Grasset was a Swiss artist mostly known for his decorative designs. This one showing a disheveled blonde, and the design is called “Jealousy”. Apparently yellow roses have thorns!

Spanish Woman. Alexander Yakovlevich Golovin (1863-1930)

Alexander Golovin worked on the set and costume design of Bizet’s Carmen in the 1910s. He later painted a number of portraits of ladies in Spanish costume. This one has a yellow rose in her hair, and she certainly looks up to no good. The artist emphasizes the danger (and the theatricality) by the dark shadow behind the figure.

June is Dead. 1908. Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale (1871-1945)

Now it gets pretty serious. Yellow roses certainly were the death of Cupid in this painting by Golden Age illustrator, Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale. What she is saying here metaphorically, of course, is that jealousy kills love. The little god of love lies dead engulfed by a tide wave of rambling yellow roses.

The Rose. Ernest T. Rosen (1877-1926)

There’s something toxic about the sulphur yellow color of the vase and rose in this painting by American painter Ernest T. Rosen. While quite decorative, elements such as the shadows in the room and the candle about to be blown out, as well as the shimmering, poisonous green of the lady’s silk gown create a foreboding atmosphere.

Femme Fatale. ca. 1910. Andor Novák (1879-?)

Now we’ve reached the darkest part of the yellow rose’s symbolism. They weren’t simply used to symbolize jealousy, but had come to be associated with infidelity, too. This painting by Hungarian Symbolist painter Andor Novák depicts a highly popular theme in the Symbolist movement – a femme fatale. Here the artist sees the woman as a devious, witch-like creature who is waiting like a spider in the center of a web of branches decked by small yellow roses – possibly a web woven out of lies, jealousy, and infidelity.

While not all paintings with yellow roses in them tackle such themes, it’s always a good idea to wonder whether there’s more to what the painter had to say. Chances are, what the painter wanted to portray is just a beautiful woman with a rose, but perhaps there’s more to the story than meets the eye.

Girl with a mirror. Félix Edouard Vallotton (1865-1925)

Further Reading:

Michel Pastoureau Yellow: The History of a Colour

https://www.etymonline.com/word/yellow 

https://www.almanac.com/flower-meanings-language-flowers