Still life on the blue background

A cluster of kitchen vessels -- an ochre jug with a curved handle, a tall grey-white pitcher, a squat white teapot, a slim terracotta-colored bottle, and a pale pink bottle holding a single drooping flower -- is grouped on a draped table. A small onion and a pale shell-like form sit in front of the vessels, all arranged against a flat, saturated blue background and a beige cloth spread beneath them.

Each object is built from a few broad, confident strokes of thick paint, with visible brush and knife marks defining rims, handles and folds of cloth rather than fine detail. The deep ultramarine background sets off the warm ochres, terracottas and greys of the vessels, giving this compact study a bold, direct, academic still-life character.