Simple, beautiful, effective, historic! Manet uses here a very photographic framing, inspired by the new process. His gaze stops on a detail, highlights it in a close-up, personalizes it. The painter isolates a lemon as he did with an asparagus, as if to translate character and individuality. The fruit and the vegetable seem to be sufficient in themselves. Here emerges a poetic realism under the thick and frank touch of the artist.Giovanna Garzoni, "Still Life with a Dish of Lemons", ca. 1640, Italian Baroque. In painting, the lemon appeared during the Renaissance, but only as a precious ornament, it was so rare that its price was prohibitive. Already, the Roman emperor Docletian had set its price at twelve times that of a melon!
Francisco de Zurbarán, ca. 1650.
Francis Picabia, "Lemons", 1922. My favorite artist, not as a painter or anything, but the character is fantastic. A man of spirit!
Vincent Van Gogh, "Still life with lemons", 1887.
Pffff, what a wonder, it makes you dizzy! Everything seems to be in balance, the lemons are ready to tumble towards us.
Roy Lichtenstein, "Still Life with Lemon and Glass", 1974.
Matisse, 1919. Without a doubt, Henri Matisse, originally from the North, born in Cateau-Cambrésis, was amazed to discover the French Riviera and its beauties, the flowers, the mimosas and the sublime lemons.
Claude Monet, "Branch of lemons", 1883
To smile a little, this painting by Samuel Hung, "Imposters - Lemon Duck & Real Lemon", 2018. Yes, yes, it is indeed a painting..
