Food

Food and meals have fascinated artists for centuries. If some of them are interested in still lifes and vanitas artworks, many use food in order to criticise the over abundance that our consumerist society encourages. They create figurative art evoking food from fast food chains and supermarkets as well as the highly branded packaging. Artsper presents a selection that will delight your senses, discover famous foods and brands from our consumer society and traditional representations of food: a real artistic menu that will whet your appetite!

But before exploring our selection, why not take a few moments to explore the relationship that links art and food? Eating is a necessary activity for human survival and food plays an important role in our societies and cultures, so it's not surprising that it is a popular subject in the history in art. In Western art, food has been used symbolically, for illustrating a theme and in order to allow artists to showcase their talent in portraying any subject realistically.

In Ancient Greece, artists represented banquets and feasts through painting and mosaics. In Ancient Egypt, drawings of food were found inside funeral chambers as Egyptians believed that due to magical properties, these drawings would provide the sustenance that the deceased needed in the afterlife. However, it was especially from the Renaissance onwards that food became a more recurrent theme. From the 17th century, especially in Holland, Spain and Italy, food became a separate theme and many still lifes focused solely on the subject. Painters depicted with an impressive level of realism and detail abundant displays of food which often included game, seafood, exotic citruses and grapes. Many such paintings have been interpreted as referring to the transient nature of luxury or the dangers of greed. By the end of the 19th century however, artists turned more to genre scenes and depicted food in more realistic settings. As the Realism movement flourished, they even depicted peasant meals.  

The arrival of consumerism in the mid 20th century disrupted the role of food in art. Food started to be carefully packaged and branded and it became a means of communication. Several food items such the Coca Cola bottle, the Campbell's canned food or the classic hamburger have reached the rank of icon. Artists often use such foods in their work to comment on and criticise the society around them.

In contemporary art, artists continue to depict foods in paintings but they also use it to create installations, performance art and photographs. Today there seem to be an infinite number of possibilities for food in art.

If you're looking for a painting for your kitchen, why not choose one that reflects the activities taking place in this oh-so-important room? The same goes for your dining room! On Artsper you'll find a wide range of choice, from classical still lifes painted with impressive realism to pop art works and almost abstract ones that evoke food and meals only in passing. With our selection, you're sure to find the work of art for you.