Studio Art with Ms. Hopenwasser: Inspiration: Food As The Subject In Painting

I love the theme of food as a subject for grade 6 painting projects. This project can be done at any age and reinforces key skills in drawing and painting and taps into prior knowledge too. This is a comprehensive, engaging painting project!

Here is a cool website that features 15 different food artists and sculptors that use food as the medium itself, as well as being the subject. I show this to students to expose them to the possibilities and get there creative juices flowing. http://webecoist.momtastic.com/2008/12/15/food-artists-and-sculptors/food

Food can be reflective of our history and culture, it can illuminate sociopolitical issues, economics, and it can be a sign of the times. Below is a presentation that I present to students to introduce them to artists and art history around the subject of food.

Paintings and drawings of food can date back to the Egyptians, who left behind artworks that illustrated the foods and rituals of daily life in their tombs. The Egyptians were farmers and ate lots of wheat and barley, as well as meat. We can see in the Egyptian drawing above the animals used for farming that indicates how they harvested their food over three thousand years ago.

The Metropolitan Museum Art History Timeline shows the history of Food and drink from 1400-1800 and gives some good background in European Painting.

Below are some artists that I find fascinating for their style and subject.

Giuseppe Acrimboldo (1527-1593) was an Italian painter that created surreal portraits composed of a variety of fruit, vegetables and other items from nature with incredible detail, strangeness and beauty.

Giuseppe Acrimboldo, Rudolf II of Habsburg as Vertumnus, Oil on Panel, 1590

The Dutch Realists of the 17th Century created still lifes and landscapes that broke away from the religious art that dominated Europe in previous centuries. Artist Willem Kalf from Holland is a revered Dutch master known for his realism, sophistication and compositions that often featured the opulent objects and foods that the wealthy consumed or owned. Click here to read more about him and his work.

Willem Kalf, "Still Life with Drinking Horn", 1653

During the 1800s, another remarkable artist left his mark, Spanish Painter Francisco Goya who painted portraits for the courts and Spanish royalty and was associated with the Romanticism movement in Europe. He also explored political issues in his artwork and used his imagination to capture his feelings that depicted his gloomy outlook on humanity. According to http://www.foodcultureindex.com/2010/06/goyas-still-life-butchers-counter.html, Goya painted painted "Still Life, a Butcher's Counter" around 1811-1812, a period known as "ano del hambre," or year of hunger, because of the great famine in Madrid.

Francisco Goya, "Still Life, a Butcher's Counter", 1811-12

One of my favorite artists of the late 1800's is the French painter Paul Cézanne . He spanned the 19th and 20th centuries and was part of the Post-Impressionism movement that inspired many modern artists that followed him. He painted still lifes and landscapes and was known for his brushstrokes and the movement they generated in his paintings and the use complementary colors that created harmony and contrast in his artworks.

Paul Cézanne, Dish of Apples, 1875–77

French artist Henri Matisse, a contemporary of Cézanne, also painted many still lifes that often included food with bold color and simplified brushstrokes.

Henri Matisse, Blue Still Life, 1907

The prolithic and talented Spanish artist Pablo Picasso also included food in some of his still lifes and you can see below how he departed from realism and abstracted his composotion with fragmented, geometric, bold lines and simplified forms inspired by the earlier Cubist movement he pioneered with fellow artist Georges Braque.

Pablo Picasso, Still Life with Skull, Leeks and Pitcher, 1945, 28.75 x 45.6 in., Fine Arts Museum of SF

During the 1960s, American artist Wayne Thiebaud exploded onto the art scene with his whimsical paintings of cakes, pies and sweets that had a distinct style with cool shadows, rich brushstrokes and use of the color white. I am a huge fan of his work and many other artists have been inspired by his subject and approach over the past 60 years.


"Three Machines" (1963), by Wayne Thiebaud. De Young Museum, San Francisco.

After countless Internet searches, I have discovered many American Contemporary artists who continue to be inspired by food and make art about it. Check out my compilation of artists below and read more about them by clicking on their names to learn more.

Kevin Inman, San Diego, CA
Pink Bunny Easter Peeps