Artwork
Still Life with Fish
Still Life with Fish is an oil painting by Chaïm Soutine. It dates from 1920 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Technique & Style
Formal qualities include a compressed, shallow space that directs attention to the carcasses at center, rendered with exaggerated, almost sculptural volume.
The painting employs oil paint on canvas, a medium typical of Soutine’s still-life practice in this period. The handling is marked by thick, gestural brushwork, with pronounced impasto that animates the surface and underscores the raw, fleshy forms of the fish.
Formal qualities include a compressed, shallow space that directs attention to the carcasses at center, rendered with exaggerated, almost sculptural volume. The palette favors earthy ochres and deep reds, lending the composition a visceral, almost tactile intensity. The still-life genre conventions, arrangement of objects on a table, are observed, yet the execution subverts academic refinement through expressive distortion and tactile immediacy.
History & Provenance
Chaïm Soutine created the oil-on-canvas painting Still Life with Fish in 1920. The work measures 41.3 cm in height and 64.1 cm in width. It depicts fish arranged in a still-life composition.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art currently holds the painting in its collection. No specific details regarding the commission, original owner, or detailed creation process are provided in the available records.
The painting is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, where it is recorded as part of the museum’s collection.
Its dimensions are 41.3 cm in height and 64.1 cm in width.
The work was included in the exhibition Chaïm Soutine: Flesh at the Jewish Museum, New York, in 2020–2021.
Context
Created in 1920, Still Life with Fish by Chaïm Soutine is an oil-on-canvas work that exemplifies the artist's intense approach to the still-life genre. The painting is part of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it stands as a representative piece of Soutine's output during this period. While the work is firmly situated within Soutine's broader exploration of distorted forms and visceral textures, the available records do not provide specific details regarding its critical reception, scholarly analysis, or its precise ranking within the history of art.
Overview
Chaïm Soutine, a Belarusian-Jewish artist associated with the School of Paris, created Still Life with Fish in 1920. This oil painting exemplifies the still life genre, focusing on a group of fish as its primary subject. The work is presently housed in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, representing a key example of Soutine's early Expressionist period.
Subject & Meaning
The composition features several fish arranged on a surface, some resting on their sides while others are stacked. Soutine rendered the fish in a palette of grays and whites, subtly incorporating pinkish tones. A dark, subdued background serves to isolate and emphasize the forms of the fish, contributing to a sense of focused simplicity within the arrangement.
Artist & collection
Artist
Chaïm Soutine (French:; Russian: Хаим Соломонович Сутин, romanized: Khaim Solomonovich Sutin; Yiddish: חײם סוטין, romanized: Chaim Sutin; 13 January 1893 – 9 August 1943) was a French painter of Belarusian-Jewish origin…
