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Still Life with Peonies by Gauguin, Paul

Gauguin, Paul · 1884

This is Paul Gauguin's "Still Life with Peonies," painted in 1884. It is not the Tahitian Gauguin everyone knows. It is Gauguin the Parisian stockbroker, still two years away from quitting his job and setting fire to the art world. He painted this on his own time, in his own apartment, and he signed it prominently: "P. Gauguin 84."

The first thing you feel is the red. The peonies are not polite or pastel; they are saturated, almost violent crimson, pushed hard against a cool blue-grey wall. He was learning that color could operate independently, as pure sensation. Look at the framed picture pinned to the wall behind the vase: a painting within a painting. Gauguin knew his Dutch Golden Age vanitas pieces, and he was already signaling his ambition to belong in that lineage.

The violin lying on the table is the key. Flowers and a musical instrument together is a classic vanitas combination: beauty that fades, sound that vanishes. In 1884, Gauguin did not yet know his own comfortable brokerage career was about to vanish too. The Paris stock market crashed in 1882, revenues dried up, and by 1885 he was unemployed, separated from his wife, and painting for survival. This still life is the last quiet moment.

It is strange to think of a revolutionary beginning in a vase of peonies, but here it is. The color, the composition, the hidden art-historical references: the bomb was already built. It just needed someone to light the fuse.

Details

His name is Paul Gauguin. He is 36 years old.
His name is Paul Gauguin. He is 36 years old.
He hasn't quit his job yet. He won't for another two years.
He hasn't quit his job yet. He won't for another two years.
Look at the red. It already breaks every rule of polite painting.
Look at the red. It already breaks every rule of polite painting.
He hangs a tiny picture inside the picture itself.
He hangs a tiny picture inside the picture itself.
That year, the French stock market crashed. Gauguin lost everything.
That year, the French stock market crashed. Gauguin lost everything.
Transcript

Paris, 1884. A stockbroker paints in his spare time. His name is Paul Gauguin. He is 36 years old. He hasn't quit his job yet. He won't for another two years. Look at the red. It already breaks every rule of polite painting. He hangs a tiny picture inside the picture itself. A violin and dying flowers. A vanitas. Time and beauty, passing. That year, the French stock market crashed. Gauguin lost everything. He turned to painting full-time. The world would never forget him.