André Derain — Rustic Still Life

Derain created this work to decorate the Paris apartment of an art dealer, meant to hang above a doorway—which explains its elongated format. The painting gathers a straw hat, a basket of flowers, and two flutes, all familiar emblems of spring in 18th-century painting: the hat and flower basket suggest warm sunlight and a garden, while the flutes evoke cheerful music. Unlike a conventional still life with objects resting on a table, these seem to hover in midair—a departure Derain made from the traditional still-life format as part of his own experimentation. He painted a great many still lifes over his career, and the Orangerie holds a good number of them.