Paul Gauguin (1848-1903)

Both an overt homage to Cézanne and an early indication of Gauguin's interest in Japanese prints, the present still-life occupies an important place in the artist's oeuvre. Executed in January of 1888, the painting is one of just three or four that Gauguin made during a ten-week stay in Paris following his return from Martinique. He lodged at this time with his friend Emile Schuffenecker, departing on January 26th for a seven-month sojourn in Pont-Aven. Wildenstein has dated the present picture to this Paris period on the basis of the Japanese print in the background, which also appears in a portrait of Schuffenecker's family that Gauguin made in 1889 in his friend's Paris studio (W. 313; Musée d'Orsay, Paris). Moreover, an 1889 still-life that Gauguin probably painted in Paris depicts the same wall as the present picture, although the Japanese print has been replaced by a different image (W. 405; Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts).

The present picture is noteworthy as "one of the very first proofs of Gauguin's direct interest in Japanese prints" (D. Wildenstein, op. cit., 2001, p. 361). Late in 1887, Gauguin met Van Gogh, who was a great admirer of Japanese prints and may well have aroused Gauguin's enthusiasm for the genre. From this time on, Japanese prints proved a sustained and fruitful source of inspiration for Gauguin. He included them in the background of two additional still-lifes from 1889 (W. 375 and 380; Museum of Modern Art, Teheran, and Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen), and even brought examples with him to the Marquesas. The print depicted in the present painting is probably a diptych, and has been identified on the basis of its red background as a work by Kunichika or a member of his circle (e.g. fig. 1). There is no evidence that Schuffenecker owned any Japanese prints, and it is likely that the print belonged to Gauguin himself. Gauguin is known to have carried with him reproductions of works that he admired, and in 1890 pinned up in Schuffenecker's studio a "frieze made of juxtaposed Hokusai and Utamaro prints" along with "curious original Japanese drawings" (J. de Rotonchamp, Paul Gauguin, Paris, 1906, p. 77).

The present picture is also significant as a testament to Gauguin's admiration for Cézanne. With its distinct contours, intense palette, and shallow, frieze-like space, the painting is clearly indebted to Cézanne's still-life compositions from the later 1870s. Indeed, Gauguin reportedly told Paul Sérusier when in the mood to paint still-life, "Let's do a Cézanne!" (quoted in C. Chassé, Gauguin et son temps, Paris, 1955, p. 50). Gauguin owned at least five paintings by Cézanne, including the masterful still-life Nature morte au compotier (R. 418; Museum of Modern Art, New York). In June of 1888, despite considerable financial hardship, the artist refused an offer of three hundred francs for this picture, writing to Schuffenecker, "It's the apple of my eye, and except in case of dire necessity, I'll keep it until my last shirt's gone" (quoted in F. Cachin and J.J. Rishel, eds., Cézanne, exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1996, p. 28).


(fig. 1)Kunichika, Kabuki Actors, circa 1870.
Galerie Jan and Hélène Lühl, Paris.