Still Life with Bottles and Earthenware

Not many people know that, for a short time, Van Gogh gave painting lessons to amateur artists. He wrote to his brother Theo, ‘I now have 3 people in Eindhoven who want to learn to paint and whom I’m teaching to paint still lifes.’ Van Gogh painted this picture while his pupils were busy with similar still lifes.

Van Gogh felt that still life painting was the best way to start – as he had done when he began his painting career three years before.