Interesting problem.  I think one of the reasons you can end up chasing 
your tail here is due to the number of factors involved.  Different 
people, and you at different times, are going to focus on the emphasis 
of one thing or another as the most important, and the different choices 
emphasize different things.  What further complicates the problem is 
that the different choices can strike more abstract, elusive, less 
identifiable chords within the viewer.  Like when you say words like 
"cheap" or "tacky".

And the image, for all its simple appeal, does have enough elements such 
that something suffers and something benefits from each color variation. 
  I don's see any choice that compliments each element perfectly.  So it 
reduces, as you said, to a kind of comprimise, which doesn't sit well 
either when you are seeking that final piece which completes the puzzle.

The white, because it is neutral, gives a good general comprimise.  And 
has the huge benefit of not having to commit to a specific color. 
Specific colors have specific associations and so will become more 
quickly boring. But white is not without cost. For me, huge cost. One 
cost, as you pointed out, is that it conflicts with the highlights on 
the metal to create an overall harsh appearance. This is worsened by the 
look of the shadows on the wall, they don't seem to 'stick' to the wall 
to create space. Instead they meander and confuse the eye. But worst of 
all for me about the white, it eats up the beautiful, delicate 
highlights in the petals of the flowers, which give them such velvety 
luminence.  These highlights are shown off best by the dark blue 
version. (look at the largest flower in particular)

These effects of the dark blue surprised me.  In the postage stamp image 
in your post, the blue did not seem to do well creating bleed problems 
with the low vales of red, as one would expect.  But in the larger 
resolution version it does not have this problem at all!  In fact it 
sets off the edges of the petals crisply, while making the luminence of 
the highlights visually pop. Likewise it shows off the metallic 
highlights without confusion, and draws out the warm highlights of the 
browns in the stem quite beautifully, but with a little more softness so 
that they remain the secondary, harmonizing element to the flowers.  And 
finally, the shadows work better in concert with the deeper tone of the 
blue, staying in place, and more subtly creating relief.

And the shallow, but distinct relief seems important.  The dark, brown 
version would have seemed the obvious choice.  No conflicts, each of the 
elements framed in an encompassing murk which allows the lighted forms 
to emerge equally.  It is neutral and so will always retain some mystery 
without the specific associations of a saturated color. And to the 
extent that it is a color it tends toward the warmth of the main 
attraction of the picture, the flowers. Presumably this is one reason 
the 'masters' preferred such a solution.  The shadows on the background 
are no longer a bother, compositionally or otherwise, all that remains 
is a gentle, dampening, satisfying, play of form.  And that is the main 
problem, the lost of those other elements which gives the piece such 
tension, visually and conceptually.  That second wall.

The main problem with the dark blue may be that it works too well and 
the blue/brown harmony is just too known and overworked as a 'sure 
thing'. Also the deep tone is emotionally more comlicated perhaps. The 
teal is really a different version of the blue, with the green providing 
more contrast to the red as opposites along one color axis. This makes 
it less of a neutral background element that the blue and it starts to 
eat up the saturation of the red slighly and is not so harmonious with 
the stems.  But maybe this gives a bit of added tension.

The khaki is really a variation on the white but trying to make it less 
harsh.  The hue gives it the ability to set off the metal where a grey 
would not and it sets off the dark undershadows of the stems and metal 
where the deeper toned variations soften them.  This is probably the 
appeal for many viewers.  But again it comes at some expense to the 
delicacy of the petals.

My preference would be the khaki or the deep blue.

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