Books, in the Arles year

The record dates Still Life - French Novels to 1888. Seven titles in this catalogue name novels or books, and five of the seven are dated 1888 — the other two are dated 1887. The subject enters the record in the Paris period and concentrates in the year that follows, which is the kind of movement a dated catalogue can state as a count.

What the record gives

The canvas measures 73.2 by 53 centimetres, an upright, and it is held by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which holds twenty-two of the works dated 1888. The measured palette reads as yellow.

The still life against its year

Sixty-six titles in this catalogue are still lifes, spread across every period: six dated 1884, twelve dated 1885, sixteen dated 1887, thirteen dated 1888 and seven dated 1890. Because the format persists while the years change, it is a control the catalogue offers for what a change of period actually amounts to. In 1885 brown dominates thirty-one of seventy works; in 1888 it dominates three of 135, and yellow ninety-three. This entry carries the later reading. The catalogue also holds a near-identical 1888 title, Still Life - French Novels and Rose, kept as a separate record.