To the writing of still lifes, Gaugin was particularly anxious. In this genre, he saw many opportunities for flying fantasy and finding new means of expressiveness. Especially a lot of work in this genre is written in the early years and in the period of creativity, which art historians are usually called Breton. Appeared to the genre of still life of Gauguin and Tahiti.
Curious is the fact that not actually the content attracted the artist, but the form, and the still life “Ham” is a vivid confirmation of this.
The painter chose with his objects not appetizing traditional fruits, elegant vase or a bouquet of bright colors – meat, glass and some vegetables found their embodiment in the picture.
Such a choice of the plot was not accidental, here Gauguin was interested primarily in the juxtaposition and harmonious grouping of various geometric forms. We see how the author plays with objects to balance one another – the tray of the oval shape is balanced by vertical lines of the background, and the oval ham, a square glass and vegetable rings. At the same time sharply contrasting forms look harmonious, complementing each other.
Color plays an important role in the work. If you look closely at the elements of the picture individually and describe the color with which they are depicted, you can see that their color is very contrasting – red, golden ocher, gray, brown. The author appeals mostly to pure colors, but on the canvas they do not come into conflict with each other, but create a single color, calm and natural.
Of course, the still life with such content, much shocked the audience, but Gauguin was free from the accepted norms of painting, and from traditional techniques, and from the opinion of the conservative public.
(2 votes, average: 2.50 out of 5)