Mixed Fruit – Melon, Grapes and Apples 1926

You’re looking at a painting of fruit by Samuel Peploe, and I imagine he built it up wet-on-wet, straight onto the canvas. He must have started with broad, confident strokes of blues and greens in the background to establish a cool atmosphere. It’s a very physical painting. You can see where he’s loaded the brush with paint, especially in the thick impasto highlights on the melon and oranges. What I like is that he’s not being too precious or fussy, he’s kind of letting the paint do its thing and be itself. The brushstrokes around the melon aren’t trying to be round, for example, but they create a sense of volume and light. The way he contrasts the cool blues and greens with the warm oranges and reds is also very satisfying. I like how the fruit seems to huddle together. It reminds me a bit of Cezanne and Matisse, artists who were also interested in the relationships between color, form, and perception. Painting is all about feeling your way through the dark, but with colours.