Tulips and Fruit 1919

Samuel Peploe made this painting of tulips and fruit with oil on canvas. Just look at that juicy red cloth and that solid block of cobalt blue in the background. The painting feels like Peploe was wrestling with how to make the colours sit together, the way they do in real life. There’s something solid, and searching about the strokes. What did he think of Matisse? Did he look at Cezanne’s fruit? He’s properly gone for it here with those beautiful colours and thick marks. You can feel him trying to capture the weight of those oranges, the delicate, almost bruised colour of the purple tulips. They reach out, searching for light, a bit like the artist. I wonder what it was like to make this, trying to get it just right. It's this conversation between artists across the ages, each responding to the world and to each other, that keeps painting fresh and alive, don’t you think?