Still Life with Pears
- Artist: Pavel Tchelitchew
- Date: 1927
- Medium: oil, sand on canvas
- Museum: The Courtauld Gallery
- Collection record: The Courtauld Gallery website
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About this artwork
This is the “Still Life with Pears” by Pavel Tchelitchew, created in 1927. The painting is a striking example of his late style, where the flatness of the canvas is amplified by the sand mixed into the oil paint. The texture feels almost tactile, giving the pears a rough, almost crystalline surface that catches the light in subtle ways.
Tchelitchew was part of the Russian avant‑garde, and by this time he was experimenting with how to convey volume without traditional shading. In this work, the pears sit against a muted, almost monochromatic background that pulls the eye toward their glossy, almost translucent skin. The use of sand adds a slight grit, as if the fruit is set in a natural setting rather than a studio table.
The composition is balanced: the pears are arranged in a loose triangle, with a single green leaf and a small bowl of fruit nearby. It feels both intimate and universal—a quiet celebration of everyday beauty rendered in a modernist language. The artist’s signature, subtle and understated, sits near the lower right, a reminder that this is a personal, contemplative piece rather than a grand statement.
See it in person
Still Life with Pears hangs in The Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House, London. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
