still life with roses

Two full-blown roses — one deep pink verging on orange, one blush-white — dominate a cluster of smaller buds rising from a dark, reflective bowl. Beside the flowers sit dark plums and a few pale-green pears on a table draped with an ochre cloth, the whole grouping pushed low in the frame beneath a wall of near-black shadow.

Paint is laid on thickly around the rose heads, with loaded, twisting strokes describing curling petals against thinner, scrubbed darks in the background. Warm ochre and rust tones in the cloth and fruit set off the cooler pinks and whites of the flowers, while a single fallen petal on the table adds a note of transience. Strong chiaroscuro gives the arrangement a hushed, dramatic weight.