Vegetable Pictures Are an Art Form

Still life pictures appeared with the wave of more realistic art that came after the Renaissance, especially during the Dutch realist period of the late 1600s to 1700s. The “still life” was a popular depiction of everyday life and remained a permanent part of the art repertoire in Europe and the West. With the first still life drawings and paintings, vegetable pictures were especially common, as were pictures of fruit and vegetables and other food items.

Vegetable and fruits were not only confined to still-lifes in European art. Because produce was central to village life and sustenance, artists made many pictures of ordinary people working with and eating fruits and vegetables. Fruit and vegetable gardening has been part of human life since organized cultivation of crops began, so it’s no wonder that these plants would be objects of art. The act of planting fruits and vegetables for the family and community was also recorded in pictures. Artists painted pictures of people as they were working in the vegetable garden. Such pictures captured the beauty of these everyday activities.

Painters of Fruits and Vegetables

As a gardening enthusiast, you may want to find some fruit and vegetable pictures of your own to add to your collection. These can of course be found in stores that sell garden accessories, or you might want to track down some of the old artists and their still life pictures of fruits and vegetables. You can find prints of vegetable still life paintings from dozens of artists who lived during the 1600s.

Two centuries later impressionists Edouard Manet and Vincent Van Gogh were painting fruit still life pictures, and Georgia O’Keefe painted two pears in 1921. Today, art students practice the still life in their fundamental classes. Vegetables and fruits are favorite painting subjects.

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