Flowers and Cats

Gauguin's domestic subjects — flowers and household animals — occupy a small but significant portion of his total output, reminding viewers that his household in Tahiti and the Marquesas contained animals as well as the aesthetic objects that appear in his more ambitious compositions. Flowers and cats painted together form a genre with deep roots in seventeenth-century Dutch domestic imagery, and Gauguin's engagement with it reflects both the domestic reality of his Polynesian household and his persistent dialogue with Western still-life tradition. These smaller, more intimate works existed alongside the monumental figure compositions for which he is best known.

The flowers are rendered with Gauguin's characteristically bold colour handling — simplified form, clear colour boundary, relatively flat surface. The cat introduces an animate element that provides a tonal contrast to the stillness of the flowers. The overall composition is more intimate in scale than the figure works.