Intérieur
au Rideau égyptien
circa 1948
How strange that such
a strong shadow is cast by the fruit bowl, but that the single Fuyu fruit, or
Persimmon, outside of the bowl casts none. Could it be transparent or floating,
or just in mid-fall?
Notice that the
fruits' light orange skins match the colour of the table's edge, while the
blackness of the back wall is repeated in the bowl's oval shadow. Also notice that the leaves of the palm tree are mirrored in the swollen synthetic petals
of the Eygptian fabric, simply because they share the same green pigment; and that the majority of the tree's yellow branches cascade in the direction
of the fruit bowl, and then towards the five large yellow dots at the base of
the curtain, helping the eye to run a smooth course between the outdoor and the
indoor scenes. These details show that colour acts as a strong tie between these
animate and inanimate objects, enabling the composition to hold a unity within
itself.
But theory aside, this
picture at least illustrates the language of colour. It gives the scene a
voice; we sense the interior's warmth from the deep reds, the yellows and the
pinks, and we almost taste the orange flesh of the Persimmons, sweet and plump.
Outside, the blue sky and the twitching threads of green leaves seem cold and
uncomfortable. The foliage is spikey and thin; the sky, clear and empty. Which
set of colours sends a better invitation: that from the outside or that from
the inside?
