A Rose Is a Rose Is a Rose

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

– William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

In a postscript to his book The Name of the Rose, author Umberto Eco explained why he chose the rose for his title. “I liked it because the rose is a symbolic figure so rich in meanings that by now it hardly has any meaning left … The title rightly disoriented the reader, who was unable to choose just one interpretation.” This makes it an ideal theme for art of any form. When using the image of a rose, or the color named for the flower, what exactly are we referring to? Is it the romanticism of the red rose, a nod to its association with the goddess Aphrodite? Is it the presence of something beautiful within a thorny, dangerous environment? 

The rose has been a symbol of love, yes, but also of war, of politics, of conspiracy and mystery and heraldry. It has traditionally, likely owing to its most common red color, been a symbol of socialist movements worldwide, but also of various conservative political parties. It has been a symbol of both romantic love and virginity. In the Wars of the Roses, both sides of the conflict chose as their symbol, with a singular lack of creativity, a rose – red for the House of Lancaster, white for the House of York.

“A rose is a rose is a rose”, the quote from Gertrude Stein’s poem Sacred Emily, is an attempt to claw back the rose from its mixed metaphor of meaning — in other words, it is what it is. Some artists revel in the form itself: a painting of a vase of flower buds or a rose garden, an earring in the shape of a many-petaled rose, perhaps even a sculpture, bowl, or piece of furniture that reflects the signature spiraling of a blooming rose flower. Others take the red-rose color to heart. And as history shows us, few symbols are as malleable, as open to interpretation and analysis, as the rose. 

But in the end, when you look at the world through rose-colored glasses, everything is beautiful!

There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted.

– Henri Matisse

Pictured Artists: Rob Greene • Tess McGuire • Deirdre Wilson • Danny Polk • Erin Moran • Christie Schorf-Miller • Beth Frey • Erin Moran • Linda Kindler Priest • Laura Zindel • Laurie Olefson • Chihiro Makio • Mary Lynn O’Shea • Aaron Macsai & Frances Kite • Lisa and Scott Cylinder • Amy Keller • Sumiyo Toribe • Kristin Moger