The blue coffee pot (1888)

This page presents "The blue coffee pot" (1888), created by Emile Bernard. Historical background, 1888: The later nineteenth century is the era of Impressionism, whose first group exhibition was held in Paris in 1874, followed by Post-Impressionism, Symbolism, and the Arts and Crafts movement. In the 1890s, colour lithography and Art Nouveau made the illustrated poster a celebrated art form. The catalogue places it in Still Life. The format is portrait. Still Life, a short history: Later artists, including Cézanne, Matisse, and Picasso, used humble still-life subjects to test ideas about space and form. Still life, the arrangement of flowers, fruit, tableware, and other objects, became a distinct genre in the Netherlands and Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

On onlly.art "The blue coffee pot" is sold as a digital download (Digital JPEG + PDF files, 300 DPI). The files are delivered by email after payment, so nothing is shipped: you print locally, choosing the paper, size, and frame yourself. A portrait format suits narrow wall spaces, hallways, and the area beside a door or window. Still life works are appreciated for their intimacy and rich surface detail, which makes them especially suited to dining rooms, kitchens, studies, and other quieter parts of the home. Before printing, compare the proportions of the file with your frame so that nothing important is cropped. Screens and printers render colour differently, so a small test print is a sensible way to check tones before committing to a large size. Matte and fine-art papers reduce glare in bright rooms, while glossy papers give stronger contrast and deeper blacks. Hang the print away from direct sunlight, which over the years can fade any printed colour.

French, 1868–1941

If you like the visual language of Emile Bernard, explore more works by the same artist in our collection.