Still Life with Puppies, etc.

Still Life with Three Puppies
(1888), Gauguin

This post is inspired by one of Paul Gauguin's lesser-known paintings, entitled "Still Life with Three Puppies". It caused me to research the topic of obscure, maybe out of character works by famous artists. While Gauguin is famous for painting native Tahitian woman, I found it very strange that he would consider painting, of all subjects, puppies. Upon further study, it's true that Gauguin often included horses and dogs in his landscapes. You may also find an occasional cat or bird.

Apparently, the artist was influenced by the Japanese prints that Van Gogh brought to him, along with children's book illustrations. The puppies must have been just born, as they are disproportioned to the goblets and fruit arranged on the tabletop. I love the pattern captured in the tablecloth! The dark blue outlines mimic its botanical print, with the shapes repeated on the dogs' coats.

Woman Walking in a Garden (1887), Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh also had a few paintings in which he departed from his usual style of expressive brushstrokes, making him seem calmer and his palette more monochromatic. The sunny yellow skirt is surely reminiscent of Vincent!

Still Life with Apples, Pears, Lemons and Grapes
(1887), Van Gogh

His Still Life with Apples, Pears, Lemons and Grapes is also an interesting choice of subject for Vincent, as with his friend, Gauguin's experiment with Still Life. Only the background has his characteristic mesmerizing, swirling brushstrokes. I am amazed that I can still find these gems, after studying my favorite artist for so many years!

Sunflowers (1887), Van Gogh

One of Van Gogh's most prolific subjects was sunflowers. In more than a dozen of his paintings, the sunflowers are arranged in vases on tabletops. Other than his paintings of crabs, I hadn't recalled this version of (dead) flowers. I like that he chose a blue background color and less-vibrant yellow for the subject!

Other researchers of this topic put Edvard Munch's The Scream, Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans, and Marcel Duchamp's Fountain into this category, but I don't agree. These are still classics and immediately recognizable to everyone who see them.

The Table (1920), Miró 

As you know, Joan Miró is another of my favorite artists. His The Table shows a still life primarily in yellow and black, with a very graphic array of geometric shapes. This is a certain departure from his minimalistic grouping of symbols in black and the three primary colors. Like The Farm (1921), this is a very busy composition!

Still Life with Old Shoe (1937), Miró 

Then there's Miró's Still Life with Old Shoe. I absolutely love this non-traditional 'still life'! It's like he airbrushed the colors. Again, I don't know why I hadn't ever seen this painting before! He even added green to the mix of colors!! It reminds me of the charcuterie board my daughter made for Thanksgiving, along with the pumpkin made of puff pastry-covered brie cheese (foreground lower left?).

Oysters (1862), Manet

The final three examples may be described as still life's though they include a solitary subject, rather than being composed of various unlike items. I'll begin with Édouard Manet's Oysters. His composition also included a plate, a fork, a halved lemon, and a dipping sauce. The dark table and charcoal grey background make the objects appear to float.

Still Life with Golden Breams (1812), de Goya

Also, a still life composed primarily of a pile of dying fish, here is Francisco de Goya's Still Life with Golden Bream. Some have said that it "emblematic of the human bloodshed brought on by Spain's war with France". I'm not sure what possessed de Goya to paint such a thing! I'm reminded of Andrew Wyeth's study of a dead squirrel, in which he smears blood on his painting.

Mound of Butter (1885), Vollon

Finally, I am including this Mound of Butter! A painting by Antoine Vollon, it is simply a knife stuck in some butter on a platter, on a table with two eggs. Maybe this image sparked Steven Spielberg to use Devil's Tower as the image that haunted Richard Dreyfuss' character in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)!