The turn of the century brought a continued search for a style but also difficulties for Matisse, as he had been unable to sell his paintings for almost a year. With his father threatening to cut off his allowance, Matisse's wife Amélia was forced to open a milliner's shop in order to support the family which now included three small children. His financial situation became so desperate in 1902 that he moved in with his parents in Bohain in order to minimize his expenses. Although these first years were a tremendous struggle for the artist, Matisse was finally making progress towards his quest for artistic identity as well as association with the avant-garde of Paris.

In March 1901 Matisse ran into André Derain at
a Van Gogh retrospective at the Bernheim-Jeune
gallery, on the rue Laffitte. Derain, whom Matisse
had first met at Carrière's studio, was in the
company of an enormous, bluff young man who was
telling him he had to paint "with pure cobalts,
pure vermilion, pure veronese." This was Maurice
Vlaminck, who impressed Matisse with his passion,
his enthusiasm, his sense of authority, and his
sheer physical size. Derain, who was just twenty
years old, and Vlaminck, who was only four years
older, were sharing a studio at Chatou, and Matisse
visited them there a short time later. He was
impressed by the bright color and vibrant brushwork
of the young men's paintings, which he felt were
based on convictions similar to his own. And
although the three men saw little of each other
during the next three years--Derain soon went off
to do his military service and Vlaminck's abrasive
manner irritated Matisse--each must have taken
comfort in the knowledge that he was not totally
alone in the direction he was taking. A few years
later, as we shall see, the three came to be
identified as the "essential triangle" of the
fauve group (J. Flam, The Man and His Art 1869-
1918, London, 1986, p. 79).

Matisse's subject matter during this experimental period leading up to his highly acclaimed fauve style was comprised of still lifes, interiors, figure paintings and landscapes. Like his fellow painters Bonnard and Vuillard, he painted what he saw in the world around him, his studio and the domestic interiors where his family lived. He had also learned from the teachings of Cézanne never to sacrifice color or structure. Here in the present painting we see the artist's important beginning steps towards his fauve style. He flattens out the space of the lower portrion of the painting by combining a broad area of pure color with the simplification of the shadow from the vase. This is contrasted with a highly articulated vase of flowers and backdrop painted in a colorful heavy impasto.

The still lifes of this period are notable for
the dissonance of their colors, their vigorous
brushstrokes, and their extensive use of drawn
contour. The impasto is usually quite thick, and
pentimenti are often noticeable. Although the
tutelary diety of Matisse's painting at this time
was Cézanne, in his still lifes Matisse made
sporadic attempts to free himself from Cézanne's
influence... For the most part, however, Matisse's
concern with volume, somber light, and strong
geometrical substructure reflect his continuing
concern with pictorial problems related to Chardin
and Cézanne. (Ibid., p. 102-103)

A photo-certificate from Marguerite Duthuit dated Paris, May 19, 1978 accompanies this painting.