Still life 1939

Andre Derain made this oil painting, titled "Still Life", sometime in the 20th century. The restrained earth-tone palette, with subdued oranges, creams, and whites, suggests a process of slow observation, a kind of meditative seeing that draws you into the quiet of the studio. I love the way the paint seems to be applied wet-on-wet, creating a soft blurring around the edges of things like the fruit and the folds of the white cloth. It gives everything a gentle, hazy quality. Look at that white cloth—the way Derain builds up the forms with layers of white and grey. You can almost feel the weight and texture of the fabric. The cherries seem to have a life of their own, scattered on the plate with a carefree attitude. Derain reminds me of Cezanne, who also wanted to convey the solidity and weight of objects. But where Cezanne is all about structure, Derain brings a painterly looseness, a willingness to let the brushstrokes do their own thing. It's like a conversation between order and chaos, control and surrender, that I always find compelling.