Style of Paul Gauguin – Still Life Metropolitan Museum: part 2

The composition presents a still life arranged on a draped surface against a dark background. A green glass vessel dominates the central space, its form simplified and rendered with broad strokes of color. Around it are clustered several fruits – predominantly oranges and apples – each treated with similar emphasis on planar forms rather than precise modeling. The fruit’s surfaces appear textured through the application of layered pigments, creating an impression of weight and materiality.
A white cloth is casually folded across a table or surface, providing a contrasting element to the warm tones of the fruit and vessel. A single, vibrant orange flower sits prominently in the foreground, its spiky form adding visual interest and a touch of organic dynamism to the otherwise static arrangement.
The artist’s approach to color is notable; hues are not blended smoothly but rather juxtaposed to create a sense of vibration and depth. The dark background serves to isolate the objects, intensifying their colors and emphasizing their two-dimensionality. Theres an intentional flattening of perspective, which contributes to the overall feeling of abstraction.
Beyond the purely descriptive elements, the painting suggests a meditation on form and color rather than a faithful representation of reality. The deliberate simplification and distortion of natural forms hint at a desire to explore underlying structures and essential qualities. The arrangement itself feels somewhat arbitrary, devoid of any narrative or symbolic meaning beyond the inherent beauty of the objects themselves. It is an exercise in visual ordering, where the interplay of shapes and colors takes precedence over mimetic accuracy.