The Fruit Bowl

A vibrant mid-century still life depicting an abundant tabletop arrangement of fruit gathered around a tall white jug, executed in oil onto board and dated 1967.

A shallow dish takes centre stage, filled with warm yellow and red fruits, while darker fruits and leafy forms spill loosely around the composition. The elongated jug rises through the centre, giving the arrangement a strong vertical counterpoint and anchoring the surrounding forms.

Executed in an expressive modernist style, the painting favours colour, shape and gesture over precise realism. The artist simplifies the individual objects into broad, loosely defined forms, creating a composition that feels spontaneous and lively. There are subtle echoes of Fauvism and Expressionism in the heightened palette, energetic outlines and freedom with which colour is used to describe light and volume.

The palette is particularly appealing, balancing deep teal and blue-green with warm yellow, orange and red. Soft creams, pale blues and muted greens illuminate the jug and tabletop, while burgundy, aubergine and forest green provide richer accents. The cool turquoise background beautifully offsets the warmer fruit, lending the work a fresh, distinctly mid-century character.

Brushwork is loose, painterly and visibly expressive, with broad strokes layered alongside quick, gestural marks. Areas of colour overlap and break into one another, while dark blue-green outlines loosely articulate the forms. The varied application of paint gives the surface a wonderfully animated quality and preserves the immediacy of the artist’s hand.

This oil on board is presented in a complementary wood frame, featuring a warm reddish-brown finish with pronounced linear wood grain and stepped moulding.  The painting is in excellent vintage condition, and the frame has very minor marks. 

Size: 49 x 47 cm (including frame)