A few still lifes in art history
I start this very sketchy selection of still-life paintings by showing the great blue color shades which Cézanne used along with its light effects on the items shown on painting. A simply but centrally focused blue vase catches our attention (what about those apples?)
Paul Cézanne Le vase bleu, c.1889, oil on canvas, 61,2 x. 50,0 cm. Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Realism in Caravaggio’s basket of fruit work was against what most classical art pundits thought: any nature object should be idealized, therefore the “mission” of the artist was to re-focus or make perfect that what was seen otherwise.
Caravaggio, Basket of Fruit, c.1598-1601. Oil on canvas, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan.
We are in the presence of Memling and his painting which, by the way, was one of the first independent still lifes known in art. Rife with religious symbolism this maiolica jug is an astounding example of one of Delft’s most vigorous businesses: Faience earthenware craftsmanship.
Hans Memling’s Flowers in a Jug, c 1485. Oil on panel. 29.2 x 22.5 cm. Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid.
And in no. 4, again, Cézanne and his Dahlias dans un grand vase de Delft (c.1873.) 73 x 54 cm, Musée d’Orsay, we can also admire a Delft pottery vase, which were fashionable in the Netherlands.
Renoir’s Still Life with Flowers and Fruit (c.1889) (99,7 x 140,3 cm) Philadelphia Museum of Art is a wonderful instance of his richness and exuberance of color.
Willen Kalf’s Still Life with Porcelain Jug. 1653 Alte Pinakothek, Munich. Still lifes (glasses, silver cups, porcelain, vases, jugs, cutlery…) as seen something characteristic of the Netherlands’ golden seventeenth century.
Henri Matisse’s Vase of Sunflowers, c.1899. Oil on canvas, 46 x 38 cm. Hermitage, Russia. Sunflowers motif, most likely Van Gogh’s influence.
Finally, to round off this selection I have chosen Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder’s Bouquet in an Arched Window, 1620. Oil on wood, Mauritshuis, The Hague. A painter known for his taste for displaying colorful flower vases in preparatory watercolors.
