These peonies overflow from their basket, so generous is the offering; the morello cherries, like flashes of brilliant red, gleam and add depth to a composition whose balance Vollon controls with complete mastery.

The canvas, vigorously executed, is guided by a hand as assured as the eye that composes in the moment: the flowers are painted with a richness of material that never detracts from the delicacy and lightness of the whole. In the lower right, the final touches were almost certainly those notes of white and red that

punctuate the painting session and lead the viewer’s gaze toward the dedication and signature: “À mon ami Puvis de Chavannes / A. Vollon.”

For this still life, where the placement of the light is so direct and the brushstrokes so rapid, a date around 1890 seems most likely. In that very year, Puvis de Chavannes had revived the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts with the organization of a major exhibition at the Palais de l’Industrie, where Vollon exhibited two paintings.