Still Life with Pumpkin 1905

Paula Modersohn-Becker created this still life painting of a pumpkin with oil on canvas. The painting feels earthy with its muted tones of yellow, brown, and grey. You can almost smell the damp soil and the cool air of the fields. I imagine Paula, outside, perhaps in a garden, selecting these objects. Look how she has rendered the slices of pumpkin with thick, deliberate strokes. It's as if each dab of paint is a meditation on the object itself. I love the way she’s arranged them, not trying to trick you into thinking they're real, but asking you to consider their essence. The brushstrokes are visible, raw, and honest. She's not trying to hide the process; instead, she's inviting us to witness it. The colours are reminiscent of Van Gogh, yet there’s a stillness here that’s all her own. It’s like she's having a conversation with the objects, a silent exchange between painter and painted. Painting is like an ongoing conversation across generations; we all learn from and build upon what came before.