Still Life with Brass Cauldron and Jug

Still Life with Brass Cauldron and Jug (1885), at the Van Gogh Museum, brings together two kitchen objects with strongly contrasting surface qualities—the polished reflective metal of a brass cauldron and the matte earthenware of a jug. This pairing of objects with different material properties was a compositional strategy that connected Van Gogh to the great Dutch and Flemish still-life tradition in which the demonstration of varying material textures was a primary technical ambition. He was consciously working within and against this tradition, adopting its compositional strategies while refusing its decorative character.

The brass cauldron's reflective surface requires a specific paint handling to suggest metallic sheen—bright highlights, rapid tonal transitions, and colour reflections from surrounding objects captured in the curved surface. This contrasts with the matte, uniform surface of the earthenware jug, which is rendered with steadier, less varied strokes. The technical dialogue between the two surfaces gives the composition its primary interest.