Still Life

“Don’t bother trying to look for something new: you won’t find novelty in the subject matter, but in the way you express it.”
--Camille Pissarro
Hanging against an ochre-colored wall above a horizontal band of dark brown paneling, a spoon and ladle harmonize rhythmically with the objects resting on a white tablecloth: a ceramic bowl with a ham and a knife, apples, half a loaf of bread, and a glass carafe and goblet, each partly filled with red wine.

The subject of this painting is as much the display of how it was created, as it is what is represented. Pissarro used a palette knife to apply paint boldly in smooth, flat surfaces broken with sculpted areas of impasto (thickly built up strokes of paint, from the Italian for “paste”). He also worked more delicately with the paintbrush in certain areas (see, for example, the wine glass). This deliberate juxtaposition of techniques results in a vibrant surface that conveys great visual energy and emotional power.