Still Life with Horse's Head

From upper left to lower right, Gauguin's short, even strokes cover the entire canvas. At the time that he produced this painting, Seurat, Signac, and other young painters, a group who later were called the Neo-Impressionists, were beginning to experiment with a similar technique: brushwork that used small dots of color. What makes this still life distinctive is not only the technique but also the individual motifs that Gauguin used. Decorating the wall in the background is a Japanese fan, decorated with an ukiyo-e picture. The doll on the left is also Oriental in style. The large head of a horse in the center is a reference to a Greek sculpture from the Parthenon, on display at the British Museum in London. Greek art and craft objects from Japan are symbolically juxtaposed.