Still Life: Wood Tankard and Metal Pitcher
1880
Medium
Oil on linen canvas
Dimensions
54 × 65 cm (21 1/4 × 25 9/16 in.); Framed: 71.2 × 82 × 7 cm (28 × 32 1/4 × 2 3/4 in.)
Classification
oil on canvas
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
153797
Art Historical Context
Painted in 1880, *Still Life: Wood Tank and Metal Pitcher* an early milestone in Paul Gauguin career as he transitioned from stockbroking to full-time artistry in Paris. This oil on linen canvas captures everyday objects—a wooden tankard and gleaming metal pitcher—arranged with quiet elegance against a simple backdrop. At 54 × 65 cm, its intimate scale invites close viewing, highlighting Gauguin's budding mastery of form and texture during his Impressionist-influenced phase. Gauguin, who had begun studying under Camille Pissarro, drew from the rich still-life tradition of 19th-century Europe,...
About the Artist
Paul Gauguin · 1848–1903
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) was a French Post-Impressionist painter whose bold experiments with color, form, and subject matter made him one of the most influential figures in the transition from 19th-century art to modernism. His rejection of European civilization for the perceived authenticity of 'primitive' cultures established an archetype of artistic exile that continues to resonate. Gauguin's ...