Nature morte aux fruits (dédicacée à Laval)

Nature morte aux fruits, dédicacée à Laval (Still Life with Fruits, dedicated to Laval, 1888) by Paul Gauguin was painted in Martinique or upon his return, and dedicated to Charles Laval — the painter who had accompanied Gauguin on his trip to Panama and Martinique in 1887. Laval was a close companion and follower of Gauguin during this period, and the dedication inscribed on the canvas transforms what might have been a conventional still life into an act of friendship and solidarity. Gauguin's still lifes of this period show him moving toward a more expressive Post-Impressionist treatment of color and form. The painting is now in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow.

The fruit arrangement is painted with broad, confident strokes using the saturated, non-naturalistic color that Gauguin was developing through the late 1880s. Rather than the tonal modeling of academic or Impressionist still life, Gauguin emphasizes color relationships and surface pattern. The composition is simple, allowing the expressive weight of the color to carry the painting.