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In 1897 Paula Becker (1876–1907), then aged 21, came to Worpswede to join an artists' colony. Her future husband Otto Modersohn (1865–1943) had founded the colony two years earlier. The couple married in 1901. In the years that followed, Paula Modersohn-Becker travelled to Paris several times, where she became closely involved with the French avant-garde.

Portraits played an important role in her work, but the artist also painted landscapes and, as in this case, still lifes. A brown pitcher with a flower, a bowl of oranges and a bowl with three goldfish stand to the left of a white table. A few orange peels lie at the foot of the jar. It is interesting to note how Modersohn-Becker has positioned the jug: The handle points towards the viewer, which can be read as an offer. At the same time, this position is probably the most difficult to represent in perspective. The engagement with French modern art is clear in this work. At the same time, there are elements that can be read as typical of Expressionism, such as the rough painting style or the flatness and simplification of the objects.