– This post was written by Mick Murray –
Art has the ability to inspire people. It can make us think, dream, and find new meaning in our lives. It can also make us super hungry. Food paintings and depictions of edible things have been part of famous artworks since the very beginning. From ancient Egyptians carving depictions of crops and breads on tablets, to hyper-realistic grapes painted by Dutch masters, food and art have a long and rich relationship. Here are our top 10 famous food paintings.
1. Mound of Butter by Antoine Vollon
Where is it?
The National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
What is it?
A gargantuan mound of butter.
Why is it a thing?
While butter paintings might be a bit of a niche interest (congratulations to anyone who googled ‘butter paintings’ and ended up here), this famous work of art is one of the National Gallery of Art’s greatest treasures for a reason. In the 19th century, depictions of food and even food preparation were very popular. Still lifes and kitchen scenes were all the rage, and very few did these better than Antoine Vollon. Vollon’s fans included luminaries like the French writer Alexandre Dumas, who collected many of his paintings, and the rich detail and texture of this mound of butter tells you all you need to know about why he was so popular.
2. The Potato Eaters by Vincent van Gogh
Where is it?
The Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
What is it?
The painting that Van Gogh himself was happiest about, calling it “the best thing I did”.
Why is it a thing?
The above quote should give you an example of how Van Gogh, someone who was notoriously hard on himself, rated this particular work. His intention for the painting was to depict peasant life how it really was – and in the Netherlands, this meant potatoes. Van Gogh was likely inspired by fellow Dutch artist Jozef Israëls, whose ‘A Peasant Family at the Table’ has an undeniably similar composition.
While the painting itself is visually stunning to look at, it also has a long and dramatic history that also makes it very special to see in person. Even from the very beginning, it seemed to cause some issues. After his friend criticised the painting, Van Gogh was deeply hurt, and replied “you…had no right to condemn my work in the way you did” in a fiery letter.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of the controversy. In 1988, thieves stole an early version of The Potato Eaters from the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo – and returned it the following year. Only a few years later, in 1991, thieves then stole the final version of the painting from the Van Gogh Museum – before their getaway car blew a tyre, and they were forced to leave the paintings behind and flee on foot.
3. Figure with Meat by Francis Bacon
Where is it?
The Art Institute of Chicago
What is it?
Definitely not something to look at right before going to sleep.
Why is it a thing?
Nominative determinism is the idea that someone’s name might end up influencing their career choice, or future actions. With a last name like Bacon, there was only one way this was going to end: Figure with Meat. This painting made waves in the 20th century, and sums up the irreverence, controversy, and ‘not afraid to offend’ mentality held by contemporary artists like Bacon around this time.
To understand this painting, you first have to go back a bit further into art history – all the way back to 1650, when Diego Velázquez created his portrait of Pope Innocent X. Side by side, you see that the figure in Bacon’s famous food painting bears a pretty uncanny resemblance to the religious figure depicted by Velázquez. The main difference is that instead of a dignified holy man, Bacon’s version is more of a zombified corpse, gripping his throne, which seems to be constructed out of a dead cow carcass. Some critics consider it to be a modern-day version of a vanitas painting, using food imagery to represent death and the fleeting nature of existence, while others consider it a critique on religious authority.
4. Still Life with Cheese by Floris Claesz. van Dijck
Where is it?
The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
What is it?
A nightmare for the lactose intolerant.
Why is it a thing?
No trip to the Netherlands is complete without the following two things: cheese and a visit to the Rijksmuseum. Combining them both with a single work of art? That’s just good time management. Dutch painters of the 17th century were renowned for their still lifes, capturing kitchen and table scenes in vividly realistic detail. Few are better than this one by Van Dijck, who helped pioneer a specific type of food painting known as a ‘banketje’, or little banquet. It’s also an interesting time capsule of Dutch cuisine, which appears to have stayed virtually unchanged since 1615.
5. Campbell’s Soup Cans by Andy Warhol
Where is it?
MoMA, New York
What is it?
Either a cynical cash grab or a brilliant pop art landmark, depending on your viewpoint.
Why is it a thing?
Any respectable list of famous food paintings has to feature this iconic series by Warhol; potentially some of the most widely known images of the 20th century. The series consists of 32 canvases in total, all depicting a different flavour of Campbell’s Soup. Created using semi-automated techniques, Warhol’s work represented a dramatic turn away from the world of fine art and concepts of ‘painterliness’.
Warhol would go on to repeat this trick over the course of his career, continually returning to the soup cans that caused one of the 20th century’s greatest artistic and public commotions. People remain divided to this day about his motives and legacy, but you can’t deny that his technique was effective – his controversial work would see him become the highest-priced living American artist, and a creative icon that transcended the world of art.
6. Still Life with Apples by Vincent van Gogh
Where is it?
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
What is it?
“… an explosion of colour”, as described by the Van Gogh Museum itself
Why is it a thing?
Many of Van Gogh’s most famous techniques and trademarks are out in full force here. While paintings of apples had been a staple of still lifes for centuries, Van Gogh put his own special Post-Impressionist spin on things. His characteristic blues and greens dominate the background, which is equally as colourful and mesmerising as the vibrant red apples in the foreground of the image. It’s one of the top highlights of the Van Gogh Museum, and one of the best food paintings out there.
What kind of apple varieties would they have had in France around 1887? Glad you asked. There’s a good chance that these are Court Pendu Plat apples; an extremely old French variety that was especially popular during Van Gogh’s lifetime. That’s one for your next trivia night.
7. Still Life with Cherries, Strawberries, and Gooseberries by Louise Moillon
Where is it?
Norton Simon Museum, California
What is it?
Absolutely delectable.
Why is it a thing?
If there was a prize for ‘most delicious-looking 17th-century French still life painting’, there’s a good chance it would go to Louise Moillon. Moillon was one of the pre-eminent still life artists of her time, and specialised in depictions of realistic fruit platters. The contemporary writer Georges de Scudéry compared Moillon and two of her peers to the Michelangelo, Raphael, and Titian of their time.
What makes this painting even more special is that it is one of only around 40 works produced by the artist during her lifetime. Having been born into a Calvinist family, Moillon faced significant persecution under a regime that permitted only Catholicism. Two of her children fled to England to avoid the potentially fatal consequences of the Edict of Fontainebleau, which forced French citizens to convert, and no known work was produced by her following this period.
8. Still Life with Ham, Lobster, and Fruit by Jan Davidsz. de Heem
Where is it?
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
What is it?
The exact opposite of what your personal trainer recommends
Why is it a thing?
De Heem was part of an extremely prolific and successful family of artists spanning across multiple generations, with several of them renowned for their food paintings. In other words, it’s not easy to pick one painting to represent this entire legacy. But if we have to, it’s this one.
Jan Davidszoon de Heem, also known as Johannes de Heem, created one of the most spectacular depictions of a banquet out there. It’s lavish, extravagant, and unapologetically excessive. It’s the kind of meal that a fantasy emperor or sultan would be feasting on. If Van Dijck mastered the form of the ‘banketje’, De Heem mastered the art of opulent banquets. This painting is large and in charge, and would look right at home in a giant dining hall. These days, it can be admired at the Boijmans Van Beuningen museum in Rotterdam.
9. Vertumnus by Giuseppe Arcimboldo
Where is it?
Skokloster Castle, Stockholm/Uppsala
What is it?
Potentially the most daring picture ever painted of an emperor.
Why is it a thing?
Arcimboldo was known for his sense of humour, and wasn’t afraid to push the boundaries a little bit. Even knowing that, it’s hard to imagine someone being commissioned to paint a portrait of the most powerful man in Europe, and delivering a picture of him looking like a fruit golem. In all fairness, the emperor likely knew about Arcimboldo’s unique and irreverent style, and was expecting nothing less than his face replaced by a gigantic pineapple. While Arcimboldo’s unique food paintings might not be as famous as some of his contemporaries, his work has recently been displayed at prestigious venues like the National Gallery of Art and the Louvre.
10. Apples and Oranges by Paul Cézanne
Where is it?
Musée d’Orsay, Paris
What is it?
A deeply influential painting by a deeply influential painter.
Why is it a thing?
When it comes to fruit paintings by famous artists, it doesn’t get a lot more iconic than this masterwork by Paul Cézanne. Still life compositions became a major part of Cézanne’s overall body of work (trying really hard not to unironically use the word oeuvre) during the latter stages of his career, and this particular one is part of a series of six that he created in his Parisian studio.
The Musée d’Orsay itself calls this “the most important still life produced by [an] artist in the late 1890s”, and it’s hard to argue against one of Paris’s foremost cultural institutions. The museum has some of the most famous paintings in the world, and it’s a telling sign that they value this one so highly. It’s sumptuous, elegant, and full of spatial complexity and innovation. Comparing it to anything else on this list would be like comparing apples and oranges.
