About still lifes: paintings with food

Food has always played an important role in our social and cultural lifestyle. So it's no wonder that paintings with food can be found in all cultures throughout human history! 

3000 years back to ancient Egypt

Drawings and paintings with food were already found in Egyptian pyramids, made on interior walls of burial chambers and on coffins: these drawings were believed to nourish those who had gone to the afterlife! 

Brief history of eten in the western art

In the fifteenth century, artists are mainly inspired by the culture of antiquity and the natural world. Still lifes became a thing and eten became the most widely used source of inspiration. The special thing about it Paint of still lifes that was artists capture a certain image. They did this by observing it closely and capturing it with realistic colours, shapes and textures. Did you know that eten often has a symbolic meaning? 

Still life as an art genre

In the Netherlands, Italy and Spain in particular, eten as one of the most popular subjects depicted on schilderijen with excellent realism and detail. In the foreground were the Dutch and Flemish masters with a large amount of food such as game, poultry, lobster, crustaceans, exotic citrus fruits or grapes. This kind of expensive treats were associated with a privileged lifestyle, something that owners of this kind schilderijen wanted to identify with!

Hidden messages in paintings with food

As we have already said, in still lifes you can discover a lot of symbolism. Take a fruit for example: it can have a positive, but also a negative meaning! It decays quickly, making it fit the 'vanita' genre. Within this genre become vanity, temporality and mortality visualized.

But a fruit can also stand for fertility, represent a biblical story or stand for wealth. The related elements in this kind schilderijen give the viewer a warning or message and it can sometimes even contain a whole story! This is the interesting thing about still lifes: the longer you look, the more you can discover. 

Our paintings with food

If you are looking for more modern variants of paintings with food, then we have a perfect collection for you! In our food collection you can find modern prints in cheerful colors that will be a nice addition to your wall. Available as a poster, canvas painting or as a beautiful glossy plexiglass painting!

Share your knowledge of paintings with food! 

Many people see still lifes simply as a painting with fruit and do not understand the art behind them very well. So share this article with friends and family for an art tutorial! Curious about more paintings with food? Discover all our collections.