From Feast to Picnic

From Bruegel’s drunken feasts through to Manet’s Dejeuner sur l’herbe, food has appeared in paintings in various guises and forms for as long as the medium has existed. Of course, as something that we consume daily, it is integral to our lives and our wellbeing. In these paintings, freshly picked fruit often verges on the decorative; teas and picnics hint at leisure time. From the uncooked to the cooked and from the uneaten to the empty plate, these works let us consider food and what it means to our daily being.