Still Life with Peonies

Painted in 1884 during Gauguin's early years as a full-time artist, this still life with peonies belongs to his initial exploration of flower subjects under Impressionist influence. Peonies were a favourite subject in the Impressionist circle — Manet and Renoir both celebrated them — and Gauguin's version reflects his engagement with the mainstream of French painting before his later radical departures. Now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., this early work shows a skilled Impressionist technician not yet transformed into the Post-Impressionist revolutionary he would become.

The peonies are rendered with fresh, loose brushwork that captures the weight and complexity of the blooms without over-elaborating their detail. The colour is relatively naturalistically observed — the pink and white varieties recorded with careful attention to their cool and warm tones. The background is handled simply to foreground the flowers, following conventional flower-piece composition.