Still life is a genre popular among art historians, critics, educated art lovers and "the common man" alike. The Phillips Collection has put together a sensational exhibition not to miss with some 80 still life paintings on display among which are at least two dozen masterpieces (at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, some additional works will be presented; in total 92 paintings). The exhibition title Impressionist Still Life is somewhat misleading since the exhibited works range from Manet to Gauguin, van Gogh and Cézanne.
Both the Impressionists and the Post-Impressionists claimed Edouard Manet (1832-1883) as a source of inspiration and leadership. Therefore, it is only logical to include eight of his paintings in the exhibition. Many of Manet's still lifes have a meaning that goes beyond the object depicted. He approached many of his late still lifes with specific individuals in mind.
They express his sense of fragility and brevity of life as well as his desire to communicate his joy of life. (Eliza E. Rathbone) Manet, the eldest son of a wealthy Parisian family, once said: "A painter can express all that he wants with fruit or flowers." Therefore, it comes as no surprise that one out of five of all the paintings he produced are still lifes, in total 78.
Manet had two periods in which he concentrated with particular intensity on still life, 1864-69 and 1880-83, the last years of his life. His first paintings in the genre date from 1862 and were probably inspired by the 1860 exhibition at Louis Martinet's gallery which featured work by Jean-Siméon Chardin (1699-1779), the most important figure of still life painting in the minds of collectors, critics and the larger public, whose reputation, after years of oblivion, increased dramatically after 1840. By the way, Martinet was one of the art dealers who sold Manet's works.
The exhibition at the Phillips Collection also features still lifes by "the quintessential Impressionist landscape painter", Claude Monet (1840-1926). During his career, he produced almost 2000 catalogued works, including 64 still lifes. Despite their tiny proportion (just 3%) in his oeuvre, Monet told the Duc de Trévise late in his life: "What I need most of all are flowers, always, always." Logically, more than half of his still lifes depict flowers.
