Room 25

This is a typical example of the small but exquisitely executed still-life paintings which were Adriaen Coorte’s specialism. He used a dark background and dramatic lighting to highlight the contrast between different shapes and surfaces, such as the translucence of ripe gooseberries and the musty...

In a warm and dark room, Courbet’s rich, ripe apples seem to glow as if in firelight. The heavy earthenware bowl lined with pale blue slip seems almost too small for the weight of the fruit piled into it. Among them is a single pomegranate, squeezed in at the base of the heap.In 1871 Courbet was...

One of Gauguin’s favourite paintings was Cezanne’s Still Life with Fruit Dish, (1879–80, Museum of Modern Art, New York), which he acquired for his own collection around 1880.This still life is a homage to that picture, and repeats many of its elements: the fruit, the pottery, the rumpled tablecl...

This still-life painting – one of the most popular genres in seventeenth-century Holland – celebrates the challenges of depicting the play of light on different surfaces and textures. Look at the subtle highlights on the weave of the Turkish carpet, the sheen and lustre on silver and glass, the...

Lemons and oranges teeter on the edge of a table or ledge in front of an earthenware jug, a huge melon, some round boxes used for storing cheese, a bottle – perhaps holding wine – and a coarsely woven basket. These everyday items, seemingly placed at random, are carefully arranged, increasing in...

Various foods and containers compete for space on a bare wooden shelf or table. A plate is piled high with walnuts, with chestnuts and oranges scattered nearby and a colossal melon behind. There are earthenware jugs, probably containing oil or wine, and a small barrel. The round boxes were normal...

A collection of oysters is grouped around a glass of wine. A few closed mussels have been added at the left, with a single open shell depicted at the right, its shades of blue and white contrasting with the overall earthy tonality. Behind the oysters stands a squat bottle, perhaps containing oliv...

Here Jan Jansz. Treck has risen to the challenge of evoking the lustre of and distorted reflections in silver, pewter, glass, porcelain and eggshells as well as the complex shadows in a crumpled linen cloth. It was a highly valued skill in Dutch still-life painting and this rather beautiful examp...

In this small and intimate painting, everyday objects appear monumental and take on a mystical intensity. On a tabletop or ledge, a ceramic cup of water with delicately curved handles sits in the centre of a silver plate. A thornless rose in full bloom balances on the plate’s edge.That these obje...

A wicker basket is piled high with fresh lemons, seemingly just picked from a tree, their leaves still attached. Sprigs of flowers – lemon blossom, red carnations, blue delphiniums, white roses, day lilies and a tulip – are scattered throughout the composition.A goldfinch perches on the edge of a...