This striped wicker basket decorated with green raffia appears in several of the artist’s still lifes from the later period of his career. It can also be seen in Woman with Basket of Fruit, on view nearby. Here the basket has taken center stage, with the wide arc of its handle squarely in the middle of the composition. Bonnard once said to a friend, “to begin a picture, there must be an empty space in the center,” and this work can be seen as the perfect example of this compositional technique. The empty space forces the viewer to focus more attention on the various textures of the furniture and the textiles seen through the basket handle, all painted with great luminosity and delicacy. (Bonnard and Vuillard, 2008)