Between 1897 and 1905, Ivana Kobilca lived and worked in Sarajevo. During this time, she completed two large-scale church commissions and painted still lifes to support herself. Only a few of her still lifes from this period have survived, mainly paintings of fruits, which are all very similar. Still Life with Plums was painted in a small format and is simple in composition. The surface of the canvas is filled with a metal platter brimming with summer fruits, which spill over the edge onto a barely defined external surface, a table or a counter top. The play of light and shadow on the creases and ruffles of the white fabric produces the illusion of a three-dimensional space, and of a base that is solid and stable enough to support objects. The unique colours and shapes of fruits, painted in life size, create a picturesque combination of realistically painted objects.