One of Gauguin’s most treasured possessions was a painting by Cézanne, Still Life with Fruit Dish (1879–80, now Museum of Modern Art, New York ), which he emulates in this picture. Within a similarly compressed space, Gauguin substituted mangoes for Cézanne’s apples and a Tahitian-style printed cloth for a French floral wallpaper design. One significant departure is the human figure at the upper right, glimpsed through a door or window. The year after he completed this work, Gauguin’s finances were so dire that he arranged for the sale of his prized Cézanne.
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Title:Still Life with Teapot and Fruit
Artist:Paul Gauguin (French, Paris 1848–1903 Atuona, Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands)
Date:1896
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:18 3/4 x 26 in. (47.6 x 66 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:The Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Collection, Gift of Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, 1997, Bequest of Walter H. Annenberg, 2002
Accession Number:1997.391.2
Inscription: Signed and dated (lower right): P. Gauguin 96
Georges-Daniel de Monfreid, Paris (1897–d. 1929; sent by the artist to Monfreid in March 1897 with a shipment of paintings he hoped to sell); Monfreid family, Paris (1929–36; sold to Wildenstein); [Wildenstein, New York, 1936–56; sold March 22 to Annenberg]; Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, Rancho Mirage, Calif. (1956–97; jointly with MMA, 1997–his d. 2002)
Paris. Galerie Kléber. "Gauguin et ses amis," February 1949, no. 44 (as "Nature morte, Tahiti").
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Summer Loan Collections," July 4–September 2, 1963, no catalogue.
London. Tate Gallery. "The Annenberg Collection," September 2–October 8, 1969, no. 17.
Washington. National Gallery of Art. "The Art of Paul Gauguin," May 1–July 31, 1988, no. 217 (as "Still life with Teapot and Fruit," lent by Mr. Walter H. Annenberg).
Art Institute of Chicago. "The Art of Paul Gauguin," September 17–December 11, 1988, no. 217.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," May 21–September 17, 1989, unnumbered cat.
Washington. National Gallery of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," May 6–August 5, 1990, unnumbered cat.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," August 16–November 11, 1990, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," June 4–October 13, 1991, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Lure of the Exotic: Gauguin in New York Collections," June 18–October 20, 2002, no. 95.
THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT, BY TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION BY THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART.
Paul Gauguin. Letter to Georges-Daniel de Monfreid. February 14, 1897 [published in Annie Joly-Segalen, ed., "Lettres de Gauguin à Daniel de Monfreid," Paris, 1950, p. 101], lists it as "Nature morte" among a future shipment of paintings to Monfreid, noting that "si une toile vous plaisait beaucoup, prenez-la".
Maurice Malingue. Gauguin. Monaco, 1943, colorpl. VII.
Raymond Cogniat. Gauguin. Paris, 1947, pl. 107.
Maurice Malingue. Gauguin: le peintre et son oeuvre. Paris, 1948, unpaginated, ill. (color).
Georges Wildenstein. Gauguin. Vol. 1, French ed. [English ed. 1965]. Paris, 1964, p. 228, no. 554, ill., calls it "La Théière et les Fruits"; identifies it as probably the still life listed in Gauguin's letter to Monfreid of February 14, 1897 [see Ref.].
M. Roy Fisher. The Annenberg Collection. Exh. cat., Tate Gallery. London, 1969, unpaginated, no. 17, ill. (color), observes the influence of Cézanne.
G. M. Sugana. L'opera completa di Gauguin. 2nd ed. [1st ed., 1969; Engl. ed, 1973]. Milan, 1972, p. 108, no. 358, ill.
Daniel Wildenstein and Raymond Cogniat. Paul Gauguin. Milan, 1972, p. 79, ill.
Richard Brettell inThe Art of Paul Gauguin. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1988, pp. 402–3, no. 217, ill. (color), confirms that it is the still life listed in Ref. Gauguin 1897; calls it an homage to Cézanne's "Fruit Bowl, Glass, and Apples (1879–80; private collection), then owned by Gauguin; identifies the background as the same printed or stenciled paper that Gauguin used to wrap the cover of his newspaper, "Le Sourire," which was sent to Monfreid [see Ref. Shackelford 2004].
Pierre Daix. Paul Gauguin. [Paris], 1989, p. 282.
Joseph J. Rishel inMasterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection. Ed. Colin B. Bailey, Joseph J. Rishel, and Mark Rosenthal. Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, 1991, pp. 94–95, 191, ill. (color and black and white), calls it Gauguin's closest "still life realized completely within the manner of his French contemporaries," with only the figure in the upper right reflecting an "attempt to distance himself from Cézanne and the Western tradition".
Gary Tinterow. "Miracle au Met." Connaissance des arts no. 472 (June 1991), p. 39.
Jérôme Coignard. "Le Salon de peinture de Mr. et Mrs. Annenberg." Beaux arts no. 92 (July–August 1991), p. 72.
Belinda Thomson, ed. Gauguin by Himself. Boston, 1993, p. 253, colorpl. 203.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 491, ill.
Anna Maria Damigella. Paul Gauguin, La vita e l'opera. Milan, 1997, pp. 24, 244, ill. p. 246 (color).
Susan Alyson Stein in "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 1997–1998." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 56 (Fall 1998), pp. 5, 50, ill. (color).
Colta Ives in Colta Ives and Susan Alyson Stein. The Lure of the Exotic: Gauguin in New York Collections. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2002, p. 224, no. 95, ill. p. 121 (color).
Susan Alyson Stein in Colta Ives and Susan Alyson Stein. The Lure of the Exotic: Gauguin in New York Collections. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2002, p. 173.
Charlotte Hale in Colta Ives and Susan Alyson Stein. The Lure of the Exotic: Gauguin in New York Collections. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2002, pp. 183–85, 232 n. 34, fig. 74 (x-radiograph), notes that an x-ray of this painting shows that the flower on the left was originally painted with four petals, as it appears on the binding for "Le Sourire" [see Ref. Brettell 1988].
George T. M. Shackelford in George T. M. Shackelford and Claire Frèches-Thory. Gauguin Tahiti. Exh. cat., Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris. Boston, 2004, pp. 156, 202, 325 n. 25, p. 328 n. 79, notes that the binding used by Gauguin for the manuscript drafts of "Le Sourire," which corresponds to the background flowers in this painting, was made by gluing a cloth fragment of a "pareu" onto paper [see Ref. Brettell 1988].
Christie's, New York. Impressionist and Modern Art: Evening Sale. May 2, 2006, pp. 106 and 109, under no. 35, fig. 1 (color).
Joseph J. Rishel inMasterpieces of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection. Ed. Susan Alyson Stein and Asher Ethan Miller. 4th rev. ed. [1st ed., 1989]. New York, 2009, pp. 177–81, no. 34, ill. (color).
Joseph J. Rishel inGauguin, Cézanne, Matisse: Visions of Arcadia. Ed. Joseph J. Rishel. Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, 2012, pp. 6, 12 n. 11, fig. 8 (color), notes that the memory of Cézanne's "Still Life with Fruit Dish" (1879–80, Museum of Modern Art, New York) from Gauguin's own collection rang in his mind when painting this canvas and other still lifes in Tahiti.
Dita Amory and Kathryn Kremnitzer in Dita Amory. Madame Cézanne. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2014, p. 184 n. 5.
This work may not be lent, by terms of its acquisition by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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Paul Gauguin (French, Paris 1848–1903 Atuona, Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands)
1926
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