Still life with a broken vase (1908)

Pál Jávor, originally known as Lipót Klein, studied at the National Hungarian Drawing School from 1899 to 1904. Upon graduation, in early 1904, he changed his surname to Jávor. During his college years and afterwards he exhibited mostly portraits and human portraits. These were typically brown-toned, naturalistic pictures. 

In the academic year 1905/6 Jávor was a student of Gyula Benczúr's master school, but only for a few months. In 1905, he won a scholarship from Adolf Kohner, the great patron baron and first vice-president of the Szolnok Art Association, which had been established that year, and with it, he was invited to the Artists' Camp. He then went on a study trip abroad: after Vienna and Italy, he visited Paris, Brussels and Bruges. Still Life with Broken Vase (1908) was painted in Paris. With his simplifying forms and his wild red, deep blue and white colours, reminiscent of the French flag, Jávor experimented with a new formal language, which showed the influence of the post-impressionists, especially Gauguin and Van Gogh. At the same time, the "Hungarian objects", such as the gingerbread or the vase, can be associated with the still lifes of Adolf Fényes.