“Stop to appreciate how Paul Gauguin transforms a simple still life into a vibrant exploration of form and color, using bold outlines and flattened perspective to give everyday objects a profound presence.”
In this still life from 1896, a vibrant red teapot commands attention, its round form echoed by the fruit arranged around it. The composition feels intimate, almost as if we're peeking into a private moment. Gauguin painted this work during his second stay in Tahiti, a period when he explored themes of local life and spiritual connection. Yet, here, he turns his gaze to the domestic, rendering familiar objects with an intensity of color and simplified forms that hint at deeper symbolic resonance. The flattened perspective and bold outlines, characteristic of his Synthetist style, push beyond mere representation, inviting contemplation of the objects themselves. It's a quiet scene, but one charged with the artist's distinctive vision, transforming everyday items into something more profound.
- Artist
- Paul Gauguin
- Date
- 1896
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Dimensions
- 18 3/4 x 26 in. (47.6 x 66 cm)
- Collection
- European Paintings
- Credit line
- The Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Collection, Gift of Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, 1997, Bequest of Walter H. Annenberg, 2002
What to Notice
Five details hide in plain sight. Here’s where to look.

The bold red teapot, a central focal point.
The flattened, almost two-dimensional quality of the fruit.
The way colors are used for emotional impact, not just realism.
The subtle texture of the canvas visible beneath the paint.
1 more detail is waiting.
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Paul Gauguin
1848–1903 · FrancePaul Gauguin, the French Post-Impressionist, abandoned a stockbroker's life for art, famously seeking 'refuge from Western civilization' in Tahiti.
Further Works by Gauguin
("Leda") Design for a Plate: Shame on Those Who Evil Think (Honi Soit Qui Mal y Pense) ; cover illustration for the "Volpini Suite" entitled Lithographic Drawings (Dessins lithographiques)
1889 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Ia Orana Maria (Hail Mary)
1891 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Tahitian Women Bathing
1892 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Siesta
1892 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
A Farm in Brittany
1894 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Three Tahitian Women
1896 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Two Tahitian Women
1899 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Seine at Pont de Grenelle
1875 · Wallraf–Richartz Museum
More from Symbolism
More works to explore
Beyond Gauguin and Symbolism: works from the same years, and from the other movements Still Life with Teapot and Fruit belongs to.
Same movement · Post-Impressionism
Carmelina
Henri Matisse · 1903 · Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Same era · 1880s–1910s
A Woman Walking in a Garden
Vincent van Gogh · 1887 · Frans Buffa & sons
Same movement · Post-Impressionism
The Old Guitarist
Pablo Picasso · 1903 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1880s–1910s
Still Life with Crayfish
Mikhail Larionov · 1900 · Museum Ludwig
Same movement · Post-Impressionism
Equestrienne (At the Cirque Fernando)
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec · 1887 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1880s–1910s
Frauenkopf vor Sonnenblumen
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner · 1906 · Museum Frieder Burda
Same movement · Impressionism
After the Bullfight
Mary Cassatt · 1873 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1880s–1910s
A Sunday on La Grande Jatte — 1884
Okada Saburosuke · 1884 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same movement · Impressionism
A Turn in the Road
Alfred Sisley · 1873 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1880s–1910s
Madame Léon Clapisson
Léon-Victor Dupré · 1883 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same movement · Post-Impressionism
Gustave Boyer (b. 1840) in a Straw Hat
Paul Cézanne · 1870 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Same era · 1880s–1910s
Nurse and Child
Mary Cassatt · 1896 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Same movement · Impressionism
The Pink Dress (Albertie-Marguerite Carré, later Madame Ferdinand-Henri Himmes, 1854–1935)
Berthe Morisot · 1870 · Metropolitan Museum of Art
Same era · 1880s–1910s
The Loire
Alfred Sisley · 1896 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same movement · Impressionism
The Beach at Sainte-Adresse
Claude Monet · 1867 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1880s–1910s
Émilie
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec · 1897 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Same movement · Impressionism
The Banks of the Marne in Winter
Camille Pissarro · 1866 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1880s–1910s
House and Courtyard
John Singer Sargent · 1895 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Same movement · Impressionism
Alfred Sisley
Pierre-Auguste Renoir · 1864 · Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection
Same era · 1880s–1910s
Ile aux Orties near Vernon
Claude Monet · 1897 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Same movement · Impressionism
Beggar with Oysters (Philosopher)
Édouard Manet · 1864 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1880s–1910s
Poplars, Eragny
Camille Pissarro · 1895 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Same movement · Impressionism
Young Spartan Girls Challenging Boys
Edgar Degas · 1860 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1880s–1910s
The Kiss
Edvard Munch · 1897 · Munch Museum




