This is one of the rare fruit still lifes of Redon. Nevertheless he thought that even painting such a simple subject required the whole concentration of the artist: "Painting an apple, could anything be more stupid! And still, if you want to make something that rises to beauty from a starting point that is so humble, the painting must be completely solid, supple and rich in substance. It must also be suggestive to such an extend that it reveals the luxury, the greatness of a human presence: a surround of thought around it. (Peindre une pomme, quoi de plus bête! Et cependant pour faire de cette donné si simple quelque chose que s'élèvera à la beauté, il faudra que la peinture y soit tout entière, solide, souple riche de substance, suggestive aussi jusqu'a ce luxe, cette grandeur d'y réléver la présence de l'homme: une ambiance de pensées autour d'elle, A soi-même, 1985, p. 107)

To be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné on the artist's work, being prepared by The Wildenstein Institute

See colour illustration