23/10/2025
‘Cakes, they are glorious, they are like a three-dimensional still-life object’, said American artist Wayne Thiebaud (1920-21).
In our latest digital ‘Become an Instant Expert”, The Arts Society Lecturer Dan Evans dives into the history of still life – and how this genre was transformed during the 20th century.
The common things around us, from food and drink to flowers and even table settings, have always been a special source of inspiration for artists.
Take the still life paintings of Pablo Picasso, where everyday objects such as bottles and newspaper scraps help to build a more abstract version of reality for the viewer. Plus, in a picture that we no doubt all recognise, Andy Warhol’s ‘Campbell’s Soup Cans’ (1962), uses still life to explore issues of mass production.
But it's not just the objects directly under our noses that have inspired these mediations on the world around us.
A self-proclaimed ‘art thief’, Thiebaud instead took his inspiration from previous depictions of still life in art, from Morandi to Cézanne. With an American twist, his rhythmic paintings of pie, cakes – and even hot dogs – are a powerful commentary on the nature of consumerism. Catch The Courtauld’s new exhibition, ‘Wayne Thiebaud. American Still Life’, until 18 Jan 2026.
Pictured here is Wayne Thiebaud’s ‘Pie Rows’, 1961 / Collection of the Wayne Thiebaud Foundation. © Wayne Thiebaud VAGA at ARS, NY and DACS, London 2025.
