It was during this time that he met Émile Bernard and decided to leave his impressionist roots far behind him, opting to apply experimental ideas to his art.

Still Life with Three Puppies works on three levels. We have the fruit that is within a bowl at the bottom right of the canvas. Diagonally across the centre of the painting are three goblets.

We then have at the top left corner of the canvas the three puppies, who are drinking from a large pan. The observer becomes disorientated while looking at these three separate zones of the painting.

The puppies, goblets and fruit all appear tp be on the tablecloth, but this could not happen in real life. The proportion of all the objects within the painting are also not in real life size and this too adds to the overall confusion.

Still Life with Three Puppies explores expressionism with its use of colour, dimension and depth. Although the puppies, goblets and fruit are all easily observed as everyday animals and objects, the way in which they have been painted would suggest otherwise.

The puppies have been painted with a strong blue outline. Their fur is also unnatural, as it has been painted to resemble the tablecloth.

Are they real? Or are they a figment of the imagination? What is also clearly evident from this painting, is that Vincent van Gogh, who was Gauguin's fried at the time, was a great influence on his work.

Gauguin drew inspiration from him, as well as his favoured Japanese illustrated books and the illustrations that he found within children's literature.

The almost childlike quality of this panting is shown with the two dimensional viewpoint of the observer, and the fact that items have been placed into groups of three.

The simplistic style adds to the overall sense of not completely understanding what is being seen, as though we are looking in, rather than being part of the actual event.