Still Life with Fruit and Wine Jug

Vincent van Gogh was a great admirer of Adolphe Monticelli’s richly impastoed paintings, and he saw in the older artist’s landscapes, flower arrangements, and portraits the sincere expression he was seeking for his own art. He also identified with the myth of the misunderstood artist from Provence that rapidly grew around Monticelli after his death in 1886. Indeed, the artist played a role in Van Gogh’s decision that same year to travel to the South of France, where he hoped to find the source of Monticelli’s light. In this still life, Monticelli’s brilliant yellow fruits anticipate Van Gogh’s celebrated lemon yellow suns.