This watercolour brings together the typical ingredients of the still lifes dear to the artist: a kilim, a mandolin, a romantic black Napoleon III chair, a table with flowers and fruit.

Three horizontal planes follow one another in a helix from top to bottom: the table, the seat of the chair and the carpet. They turn on themselves and are increasingly upright. The light-coloured masses (basket, table, mandolin sounding board, cloth) are placed in the centre with darker masses to the left and right, thus structuring the zig-zag verticality of the work.

The mandolin “sitting” on the chair is at the centre of the composition. Several diagonals converge on its ear: the edge of the table, the handle of the mandolin, the angle made by the floor and the wall, the left front leg of the chair aligned with the right rear edge of its backrest.

The transparency of the supports, the staging of the objects, the delicate architecture of the chair, the empty space under the table, create a spiral movement that appeals to our eye.

The harmony of the tones, the transparency of the watercolour brushstrokes, the dynamism of the composition, all question us about the fragile balance of these objects suspended before our eyes, which resonate with each other in a beautiful pictorial harmony.