Kitchen table (Still-life with Basket) (1888-1890) is a detailed still life painting. It features pots, fruits, a basket, and a cloth on a kitchen table.
Significance
Every element of the painting is meticulously planned and calculated: the artist brings the table and cloth up close to the observer and crops them at the bottom of the canvas. The tabletop appears to be unnaturally tilted, and several of the pots appear to be unstable on the table surface. For example, neither the grey pot nor the basket have any extra tabletop space. Similarly, the table, cabinet, and chair that line up diagonally on the left have skewed perspectives.
These distortions show how Cézanne was more concerned with geometric form and color than with a precise representation of reality. Cézanne aimed to express a more profound truth that could be presented in painting but not in reality by painting items like the grey pot from various angles, simultaneously from above and from the front.
Cézanne achieves harmony through color: the fruits are painted in vibrant red, green, and yellow tones. He contrasts the warm tones of the wood and cane with the cooler tones of white, grey, and purple found in the fabric and porcelain dishes. The artist emphasized the fruit’s spherical appearance by duplicating the round shape in the loop of the grey pot, the basket handle, and the coffee pot handle. The floral motif is also repeated in several elements, like the flowery ornamentation on the porcelain coffee jug, the round pot, and the flower artwork on the wall.
Kitchen table (Still-life with Basket) is one of many great examples of Cézanne’s still lifes, which comprise a substantial section of his body of work. During his lifetime, he painted approximately 200 still lifes, the majority of which were of basic domestic goods.
Cézanne painted one still life after another, constantly exploring the relationship of the items in the composition, trying for harmony and balance in form and color. To do this, he rearranged the many objects in his studio into new compositions, painting them from multiple perspectives at times.
He was particularly fond of painting fruits, seeing beauty in their vibrant colors and simple shapes. “They [fruits] love having their photos done,” he stated to a buddy. With their aroma, they exude their message. They come to you with all their fragrances, telling you about the fields they’ve left, the rain that grew them, and the dawns they witnessed. When I’m outlining the skin of a lovely peach or a sad old apple with soft touches of paint, I catch a glimpse of… the same love of the sun, the same recollection of the dew, a freshness in the reflections they exchange.”
