Still Life with Teapot and Fruit

One of Gauguin’s most treasured possessions was a painting by Cézanne, Still Life with Fruit Dish (1879–80, now Museum of Modern Art, New York), which he emulates in this picture. Within a similarly compressed space, Gauguin substituted mangoes for Cézanne’s apples and a Tahitian-style printed cloth for a French floral wallpaper design. One significant departure is the human figure at the upper right, glimpsed through a door or window. The year after he completed this work, Gauguin’s finances were so dire that he arranged for the sale of his prized Cézanne.

Credit: The Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Collection, Gift of Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, 1997, Bequest of Walter H. Annenberg, 200...