Still Life with Lemons 1913 - 1914

Maurice de Vlaminck made this still life probably sometime in the early 20th century, with oil on canvas. Look at those confident brushstrokes and how they carve out these weighty forms! I wonder what it was like for Vlaminck to build up the composition. The tabletop is tilted forward, pushing those lemons right up into our faces. It’s like he’s saying, “Here, take a bite!” And then there’s that almost brutal application of paint, thick and juicy, especially around the pitcher. You can almost feel the weight of it, the cool ceramic against your fingertips. It is so bold! Vlaminck was part of the Fauvist movement and I feel the connection in his confident brushstrokes which seem to almost vibrate with energy. Painters are always talking to each other, across time, across cultures, across the room. And it’s never a one-way conversation. It is about sharing and discovering new languages of seeing.