Peaches (F. & S. II.202)

These peaches, photographed by Warhol with an exaggerated shadow, have been outlined by the artist in black and coloured in a uniform peachy-orange colour. Their shadows are emphasised in purple and teal colour blocks While some texture and shading remains visible enough to identify the fruits, their monochromatic hue and extreme shadow make them almost unrecognisable. The purple in particular pops against the yellow-collage like background of the peaches. This background, two rectangles joined together but off-kilter, tilts towards the left, putting the entire image off balance and giving it a sense of movement, or even defiance of gravity.

Peaches comes from Warhol’s larger 1979 series, Space Fruit, which began as a collaboration with printer Rupert Jasen Smith. Space Fruit is unique in Warhol’s oeuvre as one of his only still-life series. The subject matter of fruit draws from a long tradition of still life. Peaches in particular appears to evoke the famous apple still lives of the French post-Impressionist Paul Cezanne.