Still Life with Meat, Vegetables and Pottery

Van Gogh's Still Life with Meat, Vegetables and Pottery from 1886, painted in Paris, belongs to the tradition of kitchen still life that he engaged throughout his career. The combination of raw meat, vegetables, and cooking vessels placed him in the lineage of Chardin's kitchen still lifes — humble, necessary, honest. Van Gogh's version reflects his developing Paris palette and his conviction that the unpretentious materials of daily cooking were as worthy of serious painting as flowers or fruit. The work is currently in a private collection or unlocated.

The still life combines the varied textures of raw meat, vegetables, and ceramic surfaces in a composition organized by their practical relationships. Van Gogh's Paris palette brings more chromatic variety to this subject than his Dutch period would have. His brushwork distinguishes the different materials — the wet surface of meat, the matte skin of vegetables, the ceramic of the vessel.