Still Life with Apples 1913

Maurice Prendergast made "Still Life with Apples" using oil on canvas, somewhere in the late 19th or early 20th century. It’s less about perfection, and more about juicy color. The brushwork is pure impressionism, and you can see this especially on the blue and white china plate in the background. It’s not about trying to make it look like a real plate, more like an idea of a plate. The way he’s slapped the paint on so thick you know he’s really enjoying the materiality of his chosen medium. It’s like he’s saying the painting is there to be a painting first and foremost. Look at how each apple has its own little world of colour, reds, greens, yellows and browns swirling together. Prendergast shows us how much can be achieved with a basic subject matter. He shares a sensibility with Bonnard, a love of the everyday elevated through the pure joy of painting.