Still Life e4x5p

The countdown to Christmas has begun, so that we can't help but think about: the colored lights, the tree, the nativity scene, the colors red and gold, Santa Claus, the gifts and the laid tables. In fact, the 25th of December is not only the day in which, in addition to promising to be better, gifts are exchanged between friends and relatives, but it is also an opportunity to set rich tables around which the whole family gathers. As a result, in the days leading up to Christmas, food markets throng with people, preparing to organize memorable binges. In the world of art, banquets and markets have been widely investigated pictorial objects, and among the many stand out: the Wedding Banquet of Cupid and Psyche by Raphael and the Vucciria Market by Renato Guttuso. In spite of these examples, however, the most famous association between art and food took the form of still lifes, pictorial representations of inanimate objects, whose popularity spread especially between the end of the sixteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth century, eras in which the taste for less demanding subjects compared to the traditional ones, such as: history painting, portraits and landscape painting, was imposed. The greatest development of the pictorial representation of inanimate objects took place in Northern Europe, since the Protestant religion had forbidden to portray religious subjects. In Italy, however, the first to make famous the genre of still life was Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio.

Raphael, Wedding Banquet of Cupid and Psyche, 1517 circa. Fresco, Rome: Villa Farnesina.

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Renato Guttuso, Vucciria, 1974. Oil on canvas, 300 × 300 cm. Palermo: Palazzo Steri.

Caravaggio, Basket of Fruit, 1597-1600. Oil on canvas, 46 × 64 cm. Milan: Pinacoteca Ambrosiana. 

Caravaggio: Basket of Fruit e195h

Caravaggio's Canestra di Frutta (Basket of Fruit) is considered the incunabulum of the still life genre in Italian art, because before this masterpiece, inanimate objects were mostly depicted only as simple ornaments and decorations. Consequently, Merisi's work, in which fruit is the protagonist, gives a new dignity to this genre, raising it to the level of figurative painting. What has been said is surely due also to the pictorial talent of the artist, who was able to carry out a real realistic investigation of the depicted subject, so much so as to report even its imperfections. As for the description of the painting, at the center of the work is placed a basket of woven wicker, where, inside, is placed fruit of various kinds. This subject, within a bare neutral background, rests on a wooden plane visible only at its extremities, which runs parallel to the viewer's gaze. In contrast to the simplicity of the setting, the fruit has been painted with masterly precision, so that its smallest details and defects, such as holes and dust, are visible. Finally, by representing things simply as they appear to us and without any filter, Caravaggio revolutionized the way still life is depicted.

Giorgio Morandi, Still Life, 1920. Oil on canvas, 60.5 × 66.5 cm. Milan: Brera Art Gallery.

Giorgio Morandi: Still Life, 1920 1o6w2q

Another Italian painter who, after Caravaggio and many others, contributed to the popularity of the subject of still life, thanks to his very personal style, was Giorgio Morandi. The great sensitivity of Morandi, enriched by the study of the great masters, including especially Paul Gauguin, was able to transform the pictorial representation of still life in an elegy on existence. In fact, the works of Giorgio Morandi, introspective and spiritual, allowed the artist to dig the surface of the visible, in order to search for something superior and supreme. The main subjects of Morandi's still lifes are bottles, vases, boxes, bowls, jugs and oil lamps, alongside which, on some occasions, fruit or food are also placed. All these components conceal deeper meanings, since the artist, who fought against the ephemeral and the superfluous, attributed to his works an almost sacred study and rituality of execution. Therefore, Morandi's still lifes are not aseptic representations of reality, but testimonies of a deeper truth, which went to the essence of things. In fact, the objects, charged with evocative power, populate his canvases, always occupying a very precise space, which is the result of a long and articulated creative process. In Natura morta (Still Life) of 1920, the objects typical of Morandi's work, such as bottles and vases, leave a marginal place for fruit, which again seems to be treated as an ornament, relegated only to certain spaces in the painting.

Nataliya Bagatskaya, Just tender peaches, 2021. Acrylic/plaque on canvas, 80 x 100 cm.

Nataliya Bagatskaya: Just tender peaches... 1q64z

Still life is still a key theme in the pictorial research of artists around the world, so much so that Artmajeur's collection is full of works dedicated to this genre. For example, Nataliya Bagatskaya's oil painting depicts, with impressive realism, peaches which, except for one, are contained in a plastic bag. It is precisely this last detail that makes the work of the artist from Artmajeur appear as a contemporary "remake" of the Still Life with Peaches and Vine Leaves by the Lombard Ambrogio Figino (1591-94). In this regard, it is worth noting that it was precisely in Lombardy, a region of northern Italy, that the first Italian examples of autonomous still life appeared, that is, totally detached from figurative contexts of other kinds, which, most likely, served as a model for Caravaggio's Canestra.

Josep Maria Fontanet Sureda, Mig canal de vedella, 2018. Oil on paper, 75 x 55 cm.

Josep Maria Fontanet Sureda: Mig canal de vedella  736k5a

The still life with carcass by Fontanet Sureda, an artist from Artmajeur, depicts a subject dear to the history of art, so much so that artists such as Rembrandt, Soutine, Chagal and Bacon have immortalized it, making it iconic. Artmajeur's artist's carcass, due to its hyperrealism, comes closest to the one made, in 1655, by Rembrandt and entitled Slaughtered Ox. In the latter painting, the spatial location of the pictorial subject, together with the presence of a woman facing the door, appear insignificant compared to the grandeur of the dead body, which is illuminated from the left, in an atmosphere of Caravaggio-like penumbra. Unlike Rembrandt's work, Fontanet Sureda's, which lacks a spatial collocation of the pictorial subject and characters, concentrates exclusively on enhancing the features of the carcass. Finally, the very personal interpretation of the artist of Artmajeur, is distinguished from the masterpiece of the Dutch master for the arrangement of light that, in this case, is distributed evenly over the pictorial subject investigated.

Art'Mony, Croquez la vie, 2021. Acrylic resin and collage, 35 x 30 x 30 cm.

Art'Mony: Croquez la vie 4t4w4r

In the sculpture by Artmajeur artist Art'Mony, the apple, depicted in the style dear to pop art, is treated as an icon, as if it were an object or a personality popular in consumer society. In addition, the bite, present on the surface of the work, could allude to the Apple logo, catapulting us directly into the contemporary world. On the other hand, as far as art history is concerned, a famous sculpture, depicting an apple and entitled The Reintegrated Apple, was created in 2015 by a well-known exponent of arte povera, Michelangelo Pistoletto. This work, which found its place inside the famous square of Milan's station, bears a large scar on its surface, as if, after being bitten, it had been repaired by the artist. Finally, the sculpture of the Italian artist also hides a symbolic meaning, since, the bite, now hidden, would represent the detachment from the human being towards nature, which has favored the birth of an artificial world.

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