Born in Rouen, Marcel Couchaux studied at l’Ecole de Rouen with Delattre and developed a thickly painted style that eventually forced him to give up brushes in favor of a spatula. His paintings are always featured prominently in books on the l’Ecole de Rouen.

Couchaux did not produce very many paintings because he took his time with each piece, concerned with “capturing a faithful picture of the humble existences”. The French state purchased a painting of his that hangs in the Louvre.

This painting is a very thickly painted rendition of a candy jar with vases of anemones & daffodils. Couchaux’s great control of light and dark make the figures play hide and seek, as in the high-Nabis works of Bonnard and Vuillard. Color is the victor here with glowing grays and subtle gradations.