Unusual still lifes in painting. Unexpected still lifes
Most consider still life paintings to be beautiful but boring. Even the very name of the genre - from the French nature morte - "dead nature", seems to prove that there is little interesting here. However, among the still lifes there are pictures of unusual and exciting. True, their unusualness is far from always visible at first sight: sometimes you need to take a closer look, and sometimes find out the history of the creation of the picture. About the most interesting still lifes with food - in our article.
Giuseppe Arcimboldo, "Portrait of Emperor Rudolph II as Vertumn", 1590
Despite the name of the painting, art historians define its genre as “portrait still life”. And here it’s hard to disagree with them: after all, it’s impossible to call it an ordinary portrait. The painting belongs to the brush of the 16th century Italian artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo, who in the 20th century was proclaimed the forerunner of surrealism. In his paintings, Arcimboldo depicted human faces in the form of compositions of vegetables and fruits, crustaceans and fish, often even with a portrait resemblance. It is known that Emperor Rudolph II was delighted with his "edible" portrait and very generously rewarded the artist. Among the portrait still lifes, Arcimboldo also has quite unusual ones - “shifters”: it is enough to turn the picture 180 degrees to see a completely new image. So, the portrait "Gardener" when rotated becomes a still life "Vegetables in a bowl", and the portrait "Cook" turns into a still life with piglets on a platter.
It was in the work of the Dutch and Flemish artists of the 17th century that the still life finally established itself as an independent genre of painting. Still lifes by Frans Snyders are made in the Baroque style - they are dynamic, abundant, colorful. A blue-black peacock hanging from the table, a luxurious red lobster on a blue dish, colorful small game on the table, yellow and green and melons ... Despite the "dead nature", the picture is full of life and seems to be pierced with movement. And the dog and cat quarreling under the table only harmoniously complete the already lively kitchen scene.
The French artist Paul Serusier spoke about Cezanne's fruit like this: “They will say about the apple of an ordinary artist:“ You want to eat it. About Cezanne's apple: "How beautiful it is." You will not dare to peel his apple, you will want to copy it. Indeed, Cezanne had a “special relationship” with apples: he considered them perfect creations both in shape and in color. It is known that Cezanne even said: "I will conquer Paris with my apples." On the simplest examples, he sought to show the true beauty of nature. One of the young artists visited Cezanne while he was working on one of the still lifes and was amazed: “Cezanne began to lay out the fruits, picking them up so that they contrasted with each other, and watching for the appearance of additional colors: green on red and yellow on blue . He moved and turned the fruits endlessly, placing coins of one and two sous under them. All this Cezanne did slowly and carefully, and it was clear that this activity gives him real pleasure.
Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin "Morning still life", 1918
At first glance, the picture "Morning Still Life" is simple and uncomplicated, but if you look closely, you can notice interesting details, for example, a ginger cat reflected in the teapot - perhaps it lies on the owner's lap. In addition to the cat, the dog “gives out” the person in the picture - she looks straight at him in patient expectation. So in a still life, the presence of a person is visibly felt, although the artist did not draw him. There are few objects in the picture, but most of them are endowed with brilliance: a nickel-plated teapot is polished to a shine, a glass jar with a bouquet of wild flowers glistens in the sun, and egg shells glisten. There are light reflections on the countertop, saucer, glass of tea, refracted silver spoon. The painting "Morning Still Life" is full of bright light, it conveys a feeling of morning freshness and peace.
Among the still lifes of the Spanish surrealist artist there are quite a few quite “ordinary” ones - “Still Life” of 1918, still lifes “Fish” of 1922 and “Basket of Bread” of 1925, “Still Life with Two" of 1926, etc. However, the most famous of Dali's still lifes is "Live Still Life" ("Moving Still Life"), written during his passion for physics (mainly nuclear and quantum). Dali himself called this period - from 1949 to 1962 - "nuclear mysticism." At this time, Dali did away with "static" in the paintings and began to represent matter in the form of particles. Even in still life, objects have lost their absolute immobility and have acquired a crazy movement that does not correspond to our ideas about reality.
David Shterenberg "Herrings", 1917
David Shterenberg is often referred to as a "still life painter". His paintings are characterized by expressiveness of images, planar construction of space, clarity and generalization of the picture. Most often, the artist's attention is attracted to simple things, for example, the meager products of rations - black bread and herring. The artist pays attention to details and texture - in "Herrings" a wooden tabletop, a piece of bread, and shiny fish scales are clearly defined. The picture is symbolic and expressive, it tells about the dramatic post-revolutionary years better than any words. No less interesting are Shterenberg's other minimalistic still lifes - "Still Life with Sweets", "Curdled Milk", "Cake" (see below in the gallery).
Most consider still life paintings to be beautiful but boring. Even the very name of the genre - from the French nature morte - "dead nature", seems to prove that there is little interesting here. However, among the still lifes there are pictures of unusual and exciting. True, their unusualness is far from always visible at first sight: sometimes you need to take a closer look, and sometimes find out the history of the creation of the picture. About the most interesting still lifes with food - in our article.
Giuseppe Arcimboldo, "Portrait of Emperor Rudolph II as Vertumn", 1590
Despite the name of the painting, art historians define its genre as “portrait still life”. And here it’s hard to disagree with them: after all, it’s impossible to call it an ordinary portrait. The painting belongs to the brush of the 16th century Italian artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo, who in the 20th century was proclaimed the forerunner of surrealism. In his paintings, Arcimboldo depicted human faces in the form of compositions of vegetables and fruits, crustaceans and fish, often even with a portrait resemblance. It is known that Emperor Rudolph II was delighted with his "edible" portrait and very generously rewarded the artist. Among the portrait still lifes, Arcimboldo also has quite unusual ones - “shifters”: it is enough to rotate the picture 180 degrees to see a completely new image. So, the portrait "Gardener" when rotated becomes a still life "Vegetables in a bowl", and the portrait "Cook" turns into a still life with piglets on a platter.
Frans Snyders "Still life with bat game and lobster", first half of the 17th century
It was in the work of the Dutch and Flemish artists of the 17th century that the still life finally established itself as an independent genre of painting. Still lifes by Frans Snyders are made in the Baroque style - they are dynamic, abundant, colorful. A blue-black peacock hanging from the table, a luxurious red lobster on a blue dish, colorful small game on the table, yellow and green artichokes and melons ... Despite the "dead nature", the picture is full of life and seems to be permeated with movement. And the dog and cat quarreling under the table only harmoniously complete the already lively kitchen scene.
Paul Cezanne, Still Life with Apples and Oranges, circa 1900
The French artist Paul Serusier spoke about Cezanne's fruit like this: “They will say about the apple of an ordinary artist:“ You want to eat it. About Cezanne's apple: "How beautiful it is." You will not dare to peel his apple, you will want to copy it. Indeed, Cezanne had a “special relationship” with apples: he considered them perfect creations both in shape and in color. It is known that Cezanne even said: "I will conquer Paris with my apples." On the simplest examples, he sought to show the true beauty of nature. One of the young artists visited Cezanne while he was working on one of the still lifes and was amazed: “Cezanne began to lay out the fruits, picking them up so that they contrasted with each other, and watching for the appearance of additional colors: green on red and yellow on blue . He moved and turned the fruits endlessly, placing coins of one and two sous under them. All this Cezanne did slowly and carefully, and it was clear that this activity gives him real pleasure.
Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin "Morning still life", 1918
At first glance, the picture "Morning Still Life" is simple and uncomplicated, but if you look closely, you can notice interesting details, for example, a ginger cat reflected in the teapot - perhaps it lies on the owner's lap. In addition to the cat, the dog “gives out” the person in the picture - she looks straight at him in patient expectation. So in a still life, the presence of a person is visibly felt, although the artist did not draw him. There are few objects in the picture, but most of them are endowed with brilliance: a nickel-plated teapot is polished to a shine, a glass jar with a bouquet of wild flowers glistens in the sun, and egg shells glisten. There are light reflections on the countertop, saucer, glass of tea, refracted silver spoon. The painting "Morning Still Life" is full of bright light, it conveys a feeling of morning freshness and peace.
Salvador Dali "Living Still Life", 1956
Among the still lifes of the Spanish surrealist artist there are quite a few quite “ordinary” ones - “Still Life” of 1918, still lifes “Fish” of 1922 and “Basket of Bread” of 1925, “Still Life with Two Lemons” of 1926, etc. However, the most famous of the still lifes Dali is "Live Still Life" ("Moving Still Life"), written during his passion for physics (mainly nuclear and quantum). Dali himself called this period - from 1949 to 1962 - "nuclear mysticism." At this time, Dali did away with "static" in the paintings and began to represent matter in the form of particles. Even in still life, objects have lost their absolute immobility and have acquired a crazy movement that does not correspond to our ideas about reality.
Still life is a genre that rose to prominence in Western art towards the end of the 16th century and has remained an important genre ever since. Still life paintings are classified according to the depiction of ordinary objects, which can be natural, such as flowers, fruits, etc., or artificial, such as glasses, musical instruments, etc. Below is a list of the 10 most famous still life paintings by famous artists including Chardin, Paul Cezanne, Van Gogh and Giorgio Morandi.
No. 10 Still life series, Artist Tom Wesselman
The pop art movement originated in the 1950s and uses recognizable images from popular culture. Among the most popular works of pop art is a series of still lifes by Tom Wesselmann. His still life paintings depict elements of the modern world, rather than the fruits and vegetables of the previous generation of artists in this genre. This work (Still Life #30) is a combination of painting, sculpture, and a collage of trademarks that Tom saw on the street.
No. 9 Vanitas with violin and glass ball
Illustrator: Peter Klas
From: ,
Pieter Claesz is one of the foremost still life painters of his time. His vanitas with a violin and a glass ball, which depicts many objects, including a skull, but especially the glass ball, which reflects the artist himself in front of the easel, attracts attention. This feels mystical. Caravaggio's "Fruit Basket" is very natural, wormholes are even visible on the fruits. And it is not clear whether the master depicted what he saw, or a deeper meaning lies in the spoiled fruits. Undoubtedly good still life with van Gogh sunflowers. |
The presented rating of still lifes perfectly shows how diverse paintings of this genre can be. A very "Soviet" (or proletarian) work by Wesselmann, although it does not depict the attributes of the USSR, except for the red star. The portrait of Lincoln does not fit into the still life so much, it looks strange between whiskey, fruit, a potted flower, a cat and again fruit, which is involuntarily associated with images of general secretaries, which at one time were an indispensable attribute of any situation. Two bottles of whiskey seem to be beer, give the impression of an everyday, everyday drink that does not require a special snack. The white house in the picture is almost completely hidden by the fruit, which hints that this is just a minor interior detail. The bright colors give the composition a clear 1960s character and make it easier to see the red star next to Lincoln. Vanitas contrasts vividly with the violin, which is sharply distinguished by elegance, sophistication, more restrained colors and a set of objects from the opposite world, relative to Wesselmann's painting. Caravaggio's fruit basket is an example of a classic still life, very stylish, concise, which is always nice to see. An interesting palette, which does not differ in the variety of colors, but fits into a certain range of natural shades. And Morandi's work is so simple, essential and pure that it is impossible to get tired of looking at it. A minimum of color, a few items that make up the composition, no patterns, a variety of objects, simple, with the exception of a vase, forms. Nevertheless, I want to consider the still life, find various nuances in apparent simplicity. Cezanne's canvases are a celebration of life, abundance, unpretentious joys - fresh fruits, homemade wine, homemade dessert, intended to be eaten, and not to create a canonical composition. Still life with lemons is very stylish, with an advantageous color combination of black and yellow, and a plate, a basket and a coffee pair create a kind of "video sequence", give dynamism. The slope in the Chardin painting immediately attracts attention, effectively distinguishes the canvas from the background of any others, although in fact it is quite a classic, traditional still life. The cubic, geometric work of Braque demonstrates that the genre of still life is also possible in this style. Well, Van Gogh's sunflowers are a sunny, joyful, radiant, warm work, but I'm not sure that I would put it in the first place. |
Well, let's see some more pictures, shall we?
Unexpected still lifes - this is because we usually expect completely different subjects from their authors. Traditionally, these artists worked in completely different genres, preferring landscape, portrait or genre painting. Only occasionally did something get into their heads and they exclaimed: "And I'll draw this vase with tuberose!" True, this happened very rarely. So rare that I had to rummage through the sources for half a day to find their still lifes.
LET'S START WITH OUR:
Marc Chagall "White flowers on a red background". 1970. Mark has only a couple of still lifes, written at an already mature age, and then he, accustomed to depicting human-animal phantasmagories, could not resist in any of them - at least a piece of a human physiognomy, at least somewhere with a piece of bread, let him insert.
I, for example, love still lifes very much, but most artists do not. Somehow this is not solid for a venerable creator, all students learn the basics of drawing from staged still lifes.
Still life was especially unpopular in the second half of the 19th century, to the greatest extent - among the Impressionists, our Wanderers also disliked it. Some of them I did not find a single still life. There are no such works and, for example, Nesterov, Kuindzhi, Aivazovsky, Perov, Grigory Myasoedov (whoever finds, tell me, I will add).
Viktor Vasnetsov "Bouquet". A fabulous or epic story - please, the Kiev Vladimir Cathedral is easy to paint, but the artist does not have a lot of still lifes. However, they are!
Of course, there are exceptions among the Impressionists - Cezanne was very fond of still lifes, although he did not consider himself an Impressionist. The post-impressionists Van Gogh and Matisse "came off" on still lifes (I will not cover the listed ones here - we are hunting for rare works of still life "dislikers"). But, basically, representatives of these trends did not like this flower-fruit business - bourgeois and patriarchal, without a favorite plein air - boredom! Even Berthe Morisot is the only girl among the Impressionists, and she did not like this slightly "girly" genre.
Ilya Repin "Apples and leaves", 1879
. Still life - not typical for Repin. Even here, the composition does not look like a classical production - all this can be lying somewhere on the ground under a tree, no glasses and draperies.
Still life did not always go through bad times. It began to appear in the 16th century, while as part of genre paintings, and in the 17th century, thanks to the Dutch, it grew into an independent genre of painting. It was very popular in the 18th and in the first half of the 19th century, and then, thanks to innovative movements in art, its popularity began to fall. The revival of fashion for still life began around the 20s of the 20th century. Many contemporary artists again took up vases and peaches, but these were already new forms. Of course, the genre never completely died out, and there was (and still is) a whole galaxy of still life painters. We will talk about this later, but for now I will be silent, I will only comment on something, and you just look at the rare still lifes of the authors who wrote them only occasionally:
Valentin Serov "Lilac in a vase", 1887.
In his famous works, you can see only a piece of still life - peaches in front of a girl. The most penetrating portrait painter, apparently, was bored with painting flowers and the corpses of birds.
Isaac Levitan. "Forest violets and forget-me-nots", 1889.The genius of the Russian landscape sometimes painted wonderful still lifes. But very rarely! There is also a jug of dandelions - lovely!
Vasily Surikov "Bouquet".
The author of The Morning of the Streltsy Execution loved scope and drama. But this is also preserved - a little naive and charming roses.
Boris Kustodiev. "Still life with pheasants", 1915
. Often in his works there are huge still lifes - he painted merchants and ruddy peasants at tables literally bursting with food. And in general, his cheerful bright canvases look like a still life, even if it is a portrait, but there are few individual images of not a merchant's wife, but her breakfast.
Victor Borisov-Musatov "Lilac", 1902.
I really like his original dense, no one else's similar. You can always recognize him, and in this still life - too.
Mikhail Vrubel "Flowers in a blue vase", 1886
What a talent! How insultingly little time! The flowers are also gorgeous, as are the demons.
Vasily Tropinin "Snipe and Bullfinch", 1820s.
The serf artist seems to have treated the genre of still life without much reverence, and therefore almost never painted it. What you see is not even a full-fledged canvas, but a sketch.
Kazimir Malevich. "Still life". And you thought his apples were square?
Ivan Kramskoy "Bouquet of flowers. Phloxes", 1884
I wanted to go straight to the dacha - I also had phloxes there in the summer.
Wassily Kandinsky "Fish on a Blue Plate" Not everything is completely in squiggles yet, eyes and even a mouth are traced in the picture, and they are even nearby!
Nathan Altman "Mimosa", 1927
I like. There's something about it.
Ivan Shishkin, 1855.
And where are the bears and the forest ?!
I also wanted to insert Petrov-Vodkin, but he had quite a lot of still lifes, as it seemed. And Mashkov, Lentulov, Konchalovsky, so they are not suitable for this post.
FOREIGN:
Egon Schiele "Still Life", 1918
And you thought he only knew how to draw naked minors?
Alfred Sisley. "Still life with a heron". Dead birds - drama in everyday life.
More Sisley. Well, I love him!
Gustave Courbet. Apples and pomegranates on a platter. 1871
Edgar Degas "Woman seated at a vase of flowers", 1865
Despite the name, the woman occupies 30 percent of the area of the canvas, so she considered it to be a still life. In general, Degas liked to draw people much more than flowers. Especially ballerinas.
Eugene Delacroix. "Bouquet".
Well, thank God, no one eats anyone and no one shoots!
Theodore Géricault "Still life with three skulls"
In general, Gericault somehow suspiciously loved blue corpses and all kinds of "dismemberment". And his still life is appropriate.
Camille Pissarro, Still Life with Apples and a Jug, 1872
Claude Monet "Still life with pears and grapes", 1867.
He had still lifes, they were, but relatively few.
Auguste Renoir, Still Life with Large Flower Vase, 1866
He, in comparison with the others presented here, has quite a lot of still lifes. And what! One of his contemporaries said that he does not have sad works, and I adore him, so I shoved them here. And also because his still lifes are still little known, much less than all these bathers, etc.
And you know who? Pablo Picasso! 1919
Pablo was amazingly productive! Huge number of pictures! And among them, still lifes occupy a much smaller percentage than everything else, and even then they were mostly "Cubist". That is why he was included in the selection. To give you an idea of just how crazy (but certainly talented!) and fickle he was, take a look at the picture below. This is also him, and in the same year!
Pablo Picasso "Still life on a chest of drawers", 1919
Paul Gauguin "Ham", 1889.
Tahitian women later went, he left for Tahiti after 2 years (now I will add and go dig in the refrigerator).
Edouard Manet, Carnations and Clematis in a Crystal Vase, 1882
There are also wonderful works, such as "Roses in a glass of champagne", but Manet's still lifes in his legacy are always in the background. And in vain, right?
François Millet, 1860s.
Just a dinner for all his peasants and reapers.
Berthe Morisot "Blue Vase", 1888
Still couldn't resist!
Frederic Basil. "Still life with fish", 1866
Simple and even rude, but I think I even smell the fish! Should I go take out the trash?
Henri "Customs Officer" Rousseau, "Bouquet of Flowers", 1910
Unexpected in genre, but invariably in style. The simple-minded customs officer was always true to himself.
Everyone, thank you for your attention!
How are you?
PS. And yet Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, for he is beautiful!:
Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin "Violin in a case", 1916, Odessa Museum of Art
He has quite a few still lifes. Wonderful, just wonderful! Such bright, summer ones - be sure to look on the Web, move aside the red horse and other revolutionary paraphernalia! But, since we have a post about unusual still lifes, I chose the most atypical one for this author.
Thanks again for your attention!
Frans Snyders "Still life with bat game and lobster", first half of the 17th century
It was in the work of the Dutch and Flemish artists of the 17th century that the still life finally established itself as an independent genre of painting. Still lifes by Frans Snyders are made in the Baroque style - they are dynamic, abundant, colorful. A blue-black peacock hanging from the table, a luxurious red lobster on a blue dish, colorful small game on the table, yellow and green artichokes and melons ... Despite the "dead nature", the picture is full of life and seems to be permeated with movement. And the dog and cat quarreling under the table only harmoniously complete the already lively kitchen scene.
Most consider still life paintings to be beautiful but boring. Even the very name of the genre - from the French nature morte - "dead nature", seems to prove that there is little interesting here. However, among the still lifes there are pictures of unusual and exciting. True, their unusualness is far from always visible at first sight: sometimes you need to take a closer look, and sometimes find out the history of the creation of the picture. About the most interesting still lifes with food - in our article.
Giuseppe Arcimboldo, "Portrait of Emperor Rudolph II as Vertumn", 1590
Despite the name of the painting, art historians define its genre as “portrait still life”. And here it’s hard to disagree with them: after all, it’s impossible to call it an ordinary portrait. The painting belongs to the brush of the 16th century Italian artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo, who in the 20th century was proclaimed the forerunner of surrealism. In his paintings, Arcimboldo depicted human faces in the form of compositions of vegetables and fruits, crustaceans and fish, often even with a portrait resemblance. It is known that Emperor Rudolph II was delighted with his "edible" portrait and very generously rewarded the artist. Among the portrait still lifes, Arcimboldo also has quite unusual ones - “shifters”: it is enough to turn the picture 180 degrees to see a completely new image. So, the portrait "Gardener" when rotated becomes a still life "Vegetables in a bowl", and the portrait "Cook" turns into a still life with piglets on a platter.
Paul Cezanne, Still Life with Apples and Oranges, circa 1900
The French artist Paul Serusier spoke about Cezanne's fruit like this: “They will say about the apple of an ordinary artist:“ You want to eat it. About Cezanne's apple: "How beautiful it is." You will not dare to peel his apple, you will want to copy it. Indeed, Cezanne had a “special relationship” with apples: he considered them perfect creations both in shape and in color. It is known that Cezanne even said: "I will conquer Paris with my apples." On the simplest examples, he sought to show the true beauty of nature. One of the young artists visited Cezanne while he was working on one of the still lifes and was amazed: “Cezanne began to lay out the fruits, picking them up so that they contrasted with each other, and watching for the appearance of additional colors: green on red and yellow on blue . He moved and turned the fruits endlessly, placing coins of one and two sous under them. All this Cezanne did slowly and carefully, and it was clear that this activity gives him real pleasure.
Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin "Morning still life", 1918
At first glance, the picture "Morning Still Life" is simple and uncomplicated, but if you look closely, you can notice interesting details, for example, a ginger cat reflected in the teapot - perhaps it lies on the owner's lap. In addition to the cat, the dog “gives out” the person in the picture - she looks straight at him in patient expectation. So in a still life, the presence of a person is visibly felt, although the artist did not draw him. There are few objects in the picture, but most of them are endowed with brilliance: a nickel-plated teapot is polished to a shine, a glass jar with a bouquet of wild flowers glistens in the sun, and egg shells glisten. There are light reflections on the countertop, saucer, glass of tea, refracted silver spoon. The painting "Morning Still Life" is full of bright light, it conveys a feeling of morning freshness and peace.
Salvador Dali "Living Still Life", 1956
Among the still lifes of the Spanish surrealist artist there are quite a few quite “ordinary” ones - “Still Life” of 1918, still lifes “Fish” of 1922 and “Basket of Bread” of 1925, “Still Life with Two Lemons” of 1926, etc. However, the most famous of the still lifes Dali is "Live Still Life" ("Moving Still Life"), written during his passion for physics (mainly nuclear and quantum). Dali himself called this period - from 1949 to 1962 - "nuclear mysticism." At this time, Dali did away with "static" in the paintings and began to represent matter in the form of particles. Even in still life, objects have lost their absolute immobility and have acquired a crazy movement that does not correspond to our ideas about reality.
David Shterenberg "Herrings", 1917
David Shterenberg is often referred to as a "still life painter". His paintings are characterized by expressiveness of images, planar construction of space, clarity and generalization of the picture. Most often, the artist's attention is attracted to simple things, for example, the meager products of rations - black bread and herring. The artist pays attention to details and texture - in "Herrings" a wooden tabletop, a piece of bread, and shiny fish scales are clearly defined. The picture is symbolic and expressive, it tells about the dramatic post-revolutionary years better than any words.
