Still Life with Earthenware and Bottles

This is Van Gogh before the colour arrived. In 1885 he was living with his parents in the Dutch village of Nuenen, painting peasants and the plain objects around the house in browns and near-blacks, years before the sunflowers and bright skies people picture now. The pots and bottles here are ordinary kitchen things, probably from that household, set against a background almost the same dark tone as the glass. He added a few strokes of white to the bottles to make them catch the light and lift off the murk. He was also short of money and canvas, so he reused an old one: an X-ray later showed a woman at work hidden under this quiet arrangement of pottery.