stilllife

Still life is a genre of art that depicts inanimate subject matter, typically ordinary objects such as fruit and vegetables, flowers, dishes, glassware, books, and other household items. In painting and photography, the objects are arranged deliberately to create a composition that foregrounds form, light, color, texture, and arrangement rather than action or narrative. The genre encompasses a range of media and approaches, from highly detailed realism to more abstract or symbolic treatments.

The Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century is a pivotal period in the development of still life. Artists in the Netherlands produced elaborate arrangements that combined realism with complex symbolism, including vanitas motifs that comment on mortality and the transience of life. Prominent still life painters from this tradition include Pieter Claesz, Willem Claesz Heda, and Jan Davidsz de Heem, as well as flower specialists like Rachel Ruysch. The genre also extended to broader European contexts and styles, influencing later movements.

Key characteristics include careful composition, controlled lighting, and attention to texture and reflection. Still lifes often feature repeated motifs such as pretenses of abundance, foodstuffs, bowls, fruit, flowers, and vessels, with symbolic meanings that can range from wealth and sensual pleasure to mortality and impermanence. Variants include trompe l’oeil and hyperrealist treatments, as well as more abstract or geometric explorations of space and form.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, artists such as Paul Cézanne, Giorgio Morandi, and Georges Braque reframed still life to emphasize shape, volume, and spatial relationships, contributing to modernist movements. In photography and contemporary art, still life remains a flexible tool for exploring composition, materiality, and cultural meanings.