Famous Food Paintings

I Lead-in.

1)    Take two minutes to write down your associations with the words ‘food’ and ‘painting’. Work in pairs and compare your lists. What are the similarities and differences in your lists?  

2)     What types of food do you often see when you visit a museum? Do you know any famous paintings of food?

 

II Picture description. Look at the paintings (A-J) below. Every painting shows food. Use the words in the list to describe what food you can see in each painting. You can add your own food words to the list.

beef; lamb; chicken; bacon; salmon; tuna; prawn; oyster; lobster; gooseberry; apple; pear; lemon; orange; peach; cherry; pineapple; strawberry; grapes; raspberry; pomegranate; plum; melon; currant; potato; mushroom; carrot; onion; cabbage; courgette; aubergine; pea; beans; sweet corn; cucumber; tomato; asparagus; butter; egg; fig  

III Ranking. If you created a list of the most important food painting, in what order (10 to 1) would you rank the paintings in task II.  Explain your choice. For example: Number 10 in my list is   painting A because…

IV Artists and artworks. Look at the names of artists and the titles of paintings below. Based on your descriptions of paintings in task II match the title to the paining (for example A- Artist ‘Painting’).

      i.          Antoine Vollon  ‘Mound of Butter’

    ii.          Vincent van Gogh ‘The Potato Eaters’

  iii.          Francis Bacon ‘Figure with Meat’

  iv.          Floris   van Dijck ‘Still Life with Cheese’

    v.          Andy Warhol ‘Campbell's Soup Cans’

  vi.          Vincent Van Gogh ‘Still Life with Apples’

vii.          Louise Moillon ‘Still Life with Cherries Strawberries and Gooseberries’

viii.          Johannes de Heem   ‘Still Life with Ham, Fruit and Lobster’

   ix.          Giuseppe Arcimboldo  ‘Vertumnus’ 

     x.          Paul Cezanne ‘Apples and Oranges’

 

V Watch the video  and check your answers to task III (ranking important works)  and task IV (artists and titles). Did you guess the names of all artworks? Was your order of the most important paintings the same as the version presented in the video? What choices of art critics surprised you?

 

 VI Watch the video again and answer the questions.

1.    Which painting is a 17th century French still-life artwork?  

2.    Why do some art historians think that ‘Figure with Meat’ is a critique on religious authority?  

3.    What makes Louise Moillon’s ‘Still Life with Cherries Strawberries and Gooseberries’ so special for art historians and critics?  

4.    Which artwork is believed to represent death?  

5.    Which painting shows famous techniques and trademarks that made artist’s special post-impressionist style?  

6.    What painting is large and would look right in a giant dining hall?  

7.    What painting is a portrait?  

8.    What important person does Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s ‘Vertumnus’ depict?  

9.    Which painting is a kitchen and table scene that shows Dutch cuisine of that time?  

10.Which painting in its author’s opinion was the best painting he had ever done?  

11.Which painting shows the life of Dutch peasants?  

12.Which painting can people find in musee d'Orsay?  

13.In what century was Andy Warhol’s work ‘Campbell's Soup Cans’ created?  

14.Which colours can we find in the in the background and in the foreground of Vincent Van Gogh’s ‘Still Life with Apples’?  

15.Which painting belongs to pop-art?  

 VII OVER TO YOU. Discuss the questions with other students

a)    Which artwork in the video impressed you the most and why?

b)    Find an example of a painting that inspires you and that shows food. Show the painting to other students and describe the painting and the food you can see. Explain why you chose that artwork to talk about.