Still Life: Apples and Pears in a Round Basket

Camille Pissarro painted numerous still lifes throughout his career, and this 1872 arrangement of apples and pears in a round basket is a characteristic example from his early Impressionist period. Still life provided Pissarro with an intimate, indoor counterpart to his vast outdoor landscape production, and an opportunity to study color relationships and surface texture without the variables of weather and changing light. French still life painting had a long tradition from Chardin through Cézanne, and Pissarro's still lifes occupy a significant place in that lineage. The Princeton Art Museum's version is a quiet, unassuming work rewarding careful attention to its honest visual observation.

Pissarro builds the still life with short, varied brushstrokes giving different textures to each element — the smooth skin of apple and pear, the woven wicker of the basket. His palette is earthy and naturalistic, with honest, muted tones avoiding the sweetened colors of academic still life.