In the National Gallery of Art’s description of Still Life with Asparagus and Red Currants, it notes: “Whether depicting a bowl of cherries, an arrangement of exotic shells, or a bunch of asparagus, as in this small masterpiece, [Adriaen Coorte]…
poetry
Strawberries, Nuts, &c. – A Poem
Riddle Me This How is it possible –Orange, so fresh the leaf is intactRuby-red strawberries that if wild would collapseTogether with nuts and raisins, to beIn the same still life in a nineteenth centuryComposition? What, summer and winter?Unless, if not…
A Pomegranate, Siena – A Poem
George Henry Hall was considered a “master of fruit, vegetable and flower still-life painting”, although that’s not all he painted. Here’s a selection of some of his works. A Pomegranate, Siena is a beautiful example of the artist’s renowned realism….
For the People Waiting – A Poem
So many still lifes of previous centuries feature abundance. As The Met points out, for this particular painting by Severin Roesen: “Nineteenth-century improvements in cultivation and shipping practices enabled the extravagant assortment.” It was about status, and fortune, and horticulture,…
Cherries – A Poem
This project of mine, writing poems as a response to food-themed art, has the added benefit of making me more mindful of small things. Like cherries. They have associations beyond, well, cherries. I remembered Marcel Proust and his madeleines. They…
Fruits of Midi – A Poem
In France, the southern regions along the Mediterranean Coast are known colloquially as le Midi. It’s thought Renoir may have painted this still life somewhere in le Midi on his way to study classical paintings in Italy. There’s a more…
World Bee Day – May 20
It’s United Nations World Bee Day on May 20! More info on the importance of pollinators here And here is my little tribute to the bee.
Figs – A Poem
Figs are one of my favourite fruit. When I was in Greece, I was thunderstuck by the amount of figs fallen to the footpaths from overhanging trees. Fallen figs were underfoot. All that gorgeous bounty, gone to waste. I was…
For the Cubists – A Poem
The artist here, Ben Benn was a pioneering modernist. Born in 1884 in what is now known as Ukraine, he migrated to America with his family and settled in New York, where he first exhibited in the early 1900s with…
Apple Haiku
I was particularly struck, not just by the concentration in this young woman’s face and demeanour, but by the notes on The Met website (see link in Source in the caption below). The painter Nicolaes Maes deliberately veered away from…
Meadow and Orchard Meditation
Spreading positive vibes with poetry, and music. I find making these “meditations” inspiring and uplifting, too. It’s beautiful to connect to old words. Words: Edward Shanks (1892-1953). Poem in the public domain. Images: PexelsMusic: YouTube Library
The Milkmaid – A Poem
This famous painting by Vermeer is the subject of many analyses, some of which you can find on the Rijksmuseum site here. I just wondered what the milkmaid might be thinking. More of my ekphrastic poetry here. More on free…
