The "Still Life in Grey" shows a large-scale composition of various objects. At the center is a carved chair from Cameroon. Pechstein again takes up the geometric shapes of the frieze with ist acute angles and triangles in the pattern of the carpet. The Chinese vase appears in several of Pechstein’s paintings.
The picture background is taken up by a figuratively decorated wall hanging. The likewise cubist, stylized crouching act that can be recognized on it can also be found in other works by Pechstein.
The chair standing on the floor determines the composition with ist strong top view. On the chair there is a bowl with lemons, apricots and a cauliflower, the wrapping leaves of which, cut and folded, are reminiscent of the prismatic shapes of the other picture elements. In the center of the picture, the painter foregoes a cubist treatment of the objects. This gives the fruits an impressive presence, which is enhanced by the bright colours. In this picture Pechstein combines elements of Cubism with the colour of the Fauves in a completely new way. In a letter to his friend Alexander Gerbig in 1912, Pechstein wrote: "The only thing I worked on now is still lifes, […] I was mainly concerned with the harmony of pink, deepest blue, to increase a green […]".
