Pears and grapes

Paul Gauguin painted the still life in 1875, early in his artistic development. Ripe pears and clusters of grapes rest on a surface, rendered in the Impressionist manner he was then absorbing. The work predates by more than a decade the bold Post-Impressionist style for which he became famous.

In 1875, Gauguin was still a successful stockbroker who painted as a hobby. He had begun collecting Impressionist works and studying their techniques. This modest still life shows him working through the problems of color, light, and composition that would later lead to radical solutions. The oil on panel belongs to a private collection. Such early works reveal Gauguin mastering conventional skills before abandoning them for Tahitian subjects and symbolic color.