A loose bouquet of full-blown peonies spills from a glazed brown jug resting on a dark wooden table. Deep burgundy blooms sit beside creamy white ones and a few faded rose-pink flowers, surrounded by olive and forest green leaves.

The paint is laid on thickly, with visible palette-knife ridges in the petals and the shiny curve of the jug. A soft light picks the flowers out of the near-black background, which gives the picture a quiet, brooding mood.