The few still-life subjects in Signac's oeuvre date mostly from his early career. Still Life with Pink Book and Pompom a composition comparable to the present one, is dated 1883, and fish and shell- fish subjects were done at Port-en-Bessin in 1884. This genre played a subsidiary role in his pro- duction, but after World War I he briefly turned to it a again and left a splendid series of watercol- ors of fruit and vegetables in homage to Cézanne (cat. nos. 144-47). The present still life, although still quite mod- est is more ambitious than those painted earlier at Port-en-Bessin. In the middle of a sharply creased white tablecloth lies a book, along with three oranges, an apple, and a glass holding a bouquet of violets and nasturtiums. Books sel- dom appear in Impressionist still lifes, but Signac was an inveterate reader interested in contempo- rary literature, both Naturalist and Symbolist. He had many writers among his friends and had tried his hand at literary pastiches to enliven the evenings at the Chat Noir.

Fénéon mentioned Signac's bibliophilism in his brief 1890 biography of the artist: "In his library, the leather, paper, and fabric of the bindings commingle: silvery blue for Leonardo da Vinci; parchment white and gold for Rimbaud and Mallarmé; violet for Baudelaire; blue and orange for Kahn; purple and black for Leo Tolstoy; glossy pink for Paul Adam."I Here we see the blue paper cover of An soleil, a travel account by Maupassant published in 1882. Some years later, enchanted by Maupas- sant's account of the port of Saint-Tropez in Sur l'eau, Signac moved to the Mediterranean coast. In early 1887 Signac met Vincent van Gogh, who soon after painted closely related still lifes, and worked with him around Asni?res. Van Gogh, also an avid reader of Naturalist novels, used the principles of color contrast and division as a means to a more colorful expression: he painted three highly colored and light-filled still lifes with books. Like Signac, he did not leave the book titles to chance: Maupassant's Bel-Ami appears conspicuously in a predominantly blue and yellow canvas In the summer of 1887 Signac discovered the Midi at Collioure. Shortly after, Van Gogh also went "au soleil" (toward the sun) to create works with a new bril- liance: he left Paris for Arles in February 1888, attracted by the light and "Japanese" landscapes of the south of France which Signac had proba- bly described with great excitement.

Signed and dated (later, incorrectly): P. Signac 83

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie (NG 17/57)

FC 83 (Nature morte. Livre, oranges)

Exhibited in Paris and Amsterdam