Bodegón de guineos, jarra y pajuiles 1870

Francisco Oller, who was working in Puerto Rico, painted this still life, "Bodegón de guineos, jarra y pajuiles", with oil on canvas. The painting depicts bananas, cashew fruits, and glass objects, reflecting Oller's academic training and engagement with European still-life traditions. But the local produce speaks to his efforts to represent Puerto Rican identity through its distinctive flora and fauna. Oller studied in Europe and aligned himself with the Realist movement led by Gustave Courbet. The Realists aimed to depict the lives of everyday people and the appearance of ordinary places. The question for us is how Oller sought to apply these European ideas to the social realities of Puerto Rico, then a Spanish colony with a plantation economy based on the labor of enslaved people. As historians, we can look to sources from the period, such as newspapers, agricultural reports, and other artworks, to understand the place of these fruits in the diet and economy of the island.