Still life
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Composition (Nature Morte aux Verres V11)
Georges Braque
Print - 56 x 37 x 0.1 cm Print - 22 x 14.6 x 0 inch
£14,664
Take Me Out of the Blue #13
Ellen Brook
Painting - 61 x 61 x 5.1 cm Painting - 24 x 24 x 2 inch
£767
Flowers For Mom
Marina Dobrovolskaya
Painting - 60 x 60 x 2 cm Painting - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
£1,600
Feather Off Red
Sylvia Fournier
Photography - 28 x 43 x 1 cm Photography - 11 x 16.9 x 0.4 inch
£284
Broken celebrity #7
Zoltan Gerliczki
Photography - 64.8 x 80 x 0.3 cm Photography - 25.5 x 31.5 x 0.1 inch
£1,824
Arcane IV- L’Empereur
Richard Laillier
Fine Art Drawings - 30 x 20 x 0.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.8 x 7.9 x 0.2 inch
£889
Arcane III- L’Impératrice
Richard Laillier
Fine Art Drawings - 30 x 20 x 0.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.8 x 7.9 x 0.2 inch
£889
Matrix Index 7 / Red
Colleen Wolstenholme
Sculpture - 66 x 66 x 13 cm Sculpture - 26 x 26 x 5.1 inch
£1,422
Matrix Index 6 / Red
Colleen Wolstenholme
Sculpture - 51 x 51 x 8 cm Sculpture - 20.1 x 20.1 x 3.1 inch
£1,244
Matrix Index 5 / Silver
Colleen Wolstenholme
Sculpture - 66 x 66 x 15 cm Sculpture - 26 x 26 x 5.9 inch
£1,422
Matrix Index 3 / Charcoal
Colleen Wolstenholme
Sculpture - 66 x 66 x 8 cm Sculpture - 26 x 26 x 3.1 inch
£1,422
Matrix Index 2 / Gold
Colleen Wolstenholme
Sculpture - 66 x 66 x 8 cm Sculpture - 26 x 26 x 3.1 inch
£1,422
Etat second
Philippe Huart
Fine Art Drawings - 13 x 18 x 0.2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 5.1 x 7.1 x 0.1 inch
£444
Les caprices pinces princiers
Salvador Dali
Print - 55.9 x 73.7 x 0.5 cm Print - 22 x 29 x 0.2 inch
£2,073
Hellopandasan : Starlit Whimsical Revelations
Hiro Ando
Sculpture - 30 x 70 x 40 cm Sculpture - 11.8 x 27.6 x 15.7 inch
£18,663
Flordali - Les Fruits : Poire Don Quichotte
Salvador Dali
Print - 56.5 x 37 cm Print - 22.2 x 14.6 inch
£3,999
HEtresEnCompagnie #07
Corinne Bresson
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
£249
HEtresEnCompagnie #06
Corinne Bresson
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
£249
HEtresEnCompagnie #02
Corinne Bresson
Photography - 40 x 30 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
£249
Magnolia - Artemis
Poonam Choudhary
Painting - 50.8 x 40.6 x 5.1 cm Painting - 20 x 16 x 2 inch
£498
My Brother's Room II
Teona Yamanidze
Painting - 100 x 80 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.5 x 1.2 inch
£4,888
Green (men)
Manuel Santelices
Fine Art Drawings - 27.9 x 35.6 x 0.3 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11 x 14 x 0.1 inch
£456
Tincture of Myrrh, Stockton-on-Tees
Richard Heeps
Photography - 61 x 61 x 1 cm Photography - 24 x 24 x 0.4 inch
£889
Hica Sole
Matthew Rose
Fine Art Drawings - 39 x 29 x 4 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.4 x 11.4 x 1.6 inch
£889
Ma nature morte vivante
David Ferreira
Painting - 120 x 120 x 2 cm Painting - 47.2 x 47.2 x 0.8 inch
£2,844
Life in Plastic IV
Gergana Tabakova
Painting - 100 x 100 x 2.5 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1 inch
£978
Suffocated self portrait
Gergana Tabakova
Painting - 150 x 90 x 2.5 cm Painting - 59.1 x 35.4 x 1 inch
£1,511
Suffocated Still Life I
Gergana Tabakova
Painting - 100 x 110 x 2.5 cm Painting - 39.4 x 43.3 x 1 inch
£800
Suffocated Still Life III
Gergana Tabakova
Painting - 120 x 100 x 0.2 cm Painting - 47.2 x 39.4 x 0.1 inch
£444
Life in Plastic V
Gergana Tabakova
Painting - 100 x 110 x 0.2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 43.3 x 0.1 inch
£444
Attraverso lo specchio
Alexander Daniloff
Painting - 35 x 35 x 0.6 cm Painting - 13.8 x 13.8 x 0.2 inch
£462
Soleil blanc à Cannes
Claude Schürr
Painting - 61 x 50 x 2.5 cm Painting - 24 x 19.7 x 1 inch
£3,733
Red Freesia 02
Tanya Sviatlichnaya
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 29.5 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 11.6 x 0 inch
£311
Red Freesia 01
Tanya Sviatlichnaya
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 29.5 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 11.6 x 0 inch
£311
Yellow Freesia 02
Tanya Sviatlichnaya
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 29.5 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 11.6 x 0 inch
£311
Yellow Freesia 01
Tanya Sviatlichnaya
Fine Art Drawings - 40 x 29.5 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 15.7 x 11.6 x 0 inch
£311
Still life with fruits
Tamar Nazaryan
Painting - 40 x 50 x 2 cm Painting - 15.7 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
£373 £318
The lamp of love I
Mitko Zhelezarov
Painting - 60 x 140 x 2 cm Painting - 23.6 x 55.1 x 0.8 inch
£1,155
Al chiar di luna
Alexander Daniloff
Painting - 65 x 75 x 2 cm Painting - 25.6 x 29.5 x 0.8 inch
£809
Fossilized zebra 2
Yannick Bouillault
Sculpture - 10 x 30 x 13 cm Sculpture - 3.9 x 11.8 x 5.1 inch
£595
Breakfast, Paris
Uwe Ommer
Photography - 44 x 32 x 0.3 cm Photography - 17.3 x 12.6 x 0.1 inch
£1,576
Arcane XIV- La Tempérance
Richard Laillier
Fine Art Drawings - 30 x 20 x 0.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.8 x 7.9 x 0.2 inch
£889
A Touch of a Feather
Sylvia Fournier
Photography - 30 x 22 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 8.7 x 0.4 inch
£311
Hope has Wings
Sylvia Fournier
Photography - 30 x 22 x 1 cm Photography - 11.8 x 8.7 x 0.4 inch
£311
Lichtreflex Rotation
Hein Gravenhorst
Photography - 30 x 30 cm Photography - 11.8 x 11.8 inch
£1,333
LE PONT DE TERENEZ
Véronique Bourgeois-Noury
Painting - 162 x 97 x 2 cm Painting - 63.8 x 38.2 x 0.8 inch
£3,555
Lilacs on a Table
Yuriy Demiyanov
Painting - 45 x 55 x 3 cm Painting - 17.7 x 21.7 x 1.2 inch
£1,777
Still life
Although at its heart a classic subject, the still life was the preferred approach of Cézanne, the artist who paved the way for art to enter its most modern phase. From Cubism to Hyperrealism via Pop art, sculpture, and photography, almost all art forms have been at some point shown that it is still possible to breathe new life into this age old theme.
Be it completely de-structured, funny, classic, or minimalist, the contemporary still life is far from old fashioned, despite the fact that it boasts a long, celebrated history.
Let's take a closer look at this theme that recurs so often across art history… even in antiquity, Pliny had already written about a painter called Piraikos, known for his paintings of 'provisions for cooking', and the optical illusions of Zeuxis, from which it was said that birds would try to pick off the raisins because they looked so real. The conventional still life as we know it today, however, dates back to the 17th century, where it developed in Holland under strict aesthetic codes.
Generally, oils on canvas were the preferred method for representing inanimate objects of varying types (lots of fruit, fish, game…) and flowers. The colours were muted, the background a monochromic black, the atmosphere heavy, and the light at a steep diagonal angle. There were few elements but they were precisely arranged and loaded with religious symbolism.
Even though still life was never considered a genre in its own right, almost all of the great masters have tried their hand at it at some point or other. Across the 19th century, all the art movements went through a still life phase: romanticism, impressionism, symbolism… and under the brushes of Degas, Cézanne, Monet, etc., still life evolved.
Little by little, artists added colours, erased the biblical references and replaced them with everyday objects in ever greater numbers: cooking utensils, cups of coffee, gas lamps, musical instruments…
In the 20th century, modern art once more dusted off this 'boring' subject, and began to play with its strict codes. From cubism to pop art to surrealism, all of the artistic movements made their mark on still life. Bit by bit, they took it to pieces and rebuilt it, moving ever closer to the contemporary still life, which has little to do with the original genre except for its central theme.
After his separation from Olga Khokhlova in 1936, Pablo Picasso painted 'Still Life Under a Lamp' whose plastic elements suggested themes that would later be developed in his famous 'Guernica' the following year. Pale lamplight dominates the triangular composition in the centre of the canvas and the arms of the antique sculpture appear to be on the verge of falling off the table. Although the piece altogether seems to move away from the classic still life, it maintains the traditional heavy atmosphere.
In 1956 the Catalan surrealist painter Salvador Dali painted 'Living Still Life' in his typical humorous style. The canvas – divided in two to represent night and day – shows a table on a balcony. The elements (wine, water, a pear, a knife…) are in motion, or rather levitating, as though someone has just struck the tabletop.
Artsper invites you to explore a range of contemporary still life pieces that are both traditional and surprising in our unique selection. Discover the work of Syvie Andlauer Baruch, Gonzalo Sicre, Zbigniew Wozniak, and many more…