The Best Contemporary Still Life Painting

Introduction: Reinvigorating an Undervalued Genre

Still life painting is historically one of the key genres in Western painting. It consists of depicting anything which does not live (anymore), or cannot move. Also known as Nature Morte, typically still life painting presents a composition of flowers, plants, food, or decorative objects such as vessels or fabrics. Is the genre still relevant today? Or is contemporary still life painting an exemplary case of nostalgia and obsolete glory?

The truth is – one of many misconceptions concerning still life painting – still life painting still is very alive. In fact, one might argue it never left. Although the genre is often considered as the lowest genre after history painting, portrait painting, genre painting (everyday life), and landscape painting, it can be filled with the most high-quality knowledge or painterly skill.[1]

Think of Jan Breughel the Elder (1568-1625) who painted a still life of a selection of very rare and exotic flowers with different flowering periods, all flowering at the same time in the same vase – not only showing his unique skill but also his extraordinary knowledge as an early modern natural scientist. Also, Nature Morte is often a celebration of the abundance and riches of life, but also a looming reminder of its ephemeral character and the transient of things.

The interpretation and the intention of the still life can vary strongly. In any case, it is a most valuable and subtle genre, taking on science, moral issues, philosophy, or pushing the boundaries of painting – be it by manner of mimesis in the 16th and 17th century, or by exploring the visual possibilities of painting during the 20th century.

The still life was a favorite subject for many prominent painters throughout Modern Art, think of Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) or Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964), and it still is today. Of course, still life painting has changed strongly due to the radical and ingenious influence of Postmodern art movements such as Minimal Art or Conceptual Art. Maybe that’s why one might think the genre has died, not by chance at the same when art criticism declared the death of painting.[2]

However, painting survived, and so did the still life. Year in and year out, we encounter established and emerging contemporary artists pushing the genre – and the medium of painting – with thought-provoking and visually dazzling works. In this article, we will be presenting you a complete survey of the very best contemporary still life painting, discussing the most relevant examples of the genre and what makes them contemporary and relevant.

Who Are The Best Still Life Painters Today?

We are pleased to present you a very extensive and reasoned selection of artists and still life artworks. We have created a selection of the most renowned painters who are occupied with the still life, resulting in a total of 45 mid-career and highly established artists, presenting the most extensive online resource on still life painting today.

The top 11 consists of the most influential artists including a short introductory biography and further context – as we can only touch briefly on every artist, we have included links to the best monographic publication on the artist in question – followed by a visual anthology of highly ranked mid-career and established artists in alphabetical order. So let’s answer the big question, who are the most important still life painters today?

The most important still life painters today are Michaël Borremans, Fernando Botero, Damien Hirst, David Hockney, Alex Katz, Yayoi Kusama, Roy Lichtenstein, Yan Pei-Ming, Gerhard Richter, Luc Tuymans and Andy Warhol.

Without any further ado, let’s discover the landscape paintings in question and the artists who created them. 

1. Michaël Borremans

We start our lists of painters with a true painter’s-painter, Michaël Borremans. Born in 1963 in Geraardsbergen, the Belgian artist resides and works in Ghent, Belgium. He is best known for his strongly conceptual and neo-surrealist paintings, rendered in a traditional manner reminiscent to the Old Masters, creating an anachronism within the painting when it comes to form and substance.

Art history is always very present in Borremans’ works. As a result, he has taken on still life painting numerous times throughout his career. But his still lives are insidious in many ways. With Borremans, painting is a beautiful lie. He depicts fake plants, absurd machinery, dead plants and even – with his latest series of works – coloured cones. The Belgian artist installs and constellates these cones in different settings in the tradition of still life painting. However, the cones transcend their metaphysical state from objects to subjects.

For further reading on Michaël Borremans, we strongly recommend Michaël Borremans: As Sweet As It Gets, or his more recent but image-only monograph Michaël Borremans: The Badger’s Song.

2. Fernando Botero

Fernando Botero, born in 1932 in Medellin, Colombia, is one of the most celebrated artists of his generation, and a master of the still life. Botero is best known for his signature visual language in which he seems to inflate his figures into chubby and ’round’ subjects.

The self-taught painter, printmaker and sculptor implements this ’roundness’ of the subjects to objects with his still life painting. Bright colors and a certain ‘fullness’ off the setting result in naturalistically painted yet contemporary pictures.

For further reading on Fernando Botero, we highly recommend Botero: Paintings 1959-2015.

3. Damien Hirst

Up next we have none other than the YBA poster boy Damien Hirst. Born in 1965 in Bristol, England, Hirst works and resides in London. Known as one of the most important contemporary artists in the world, Damien Hirst rose to fame with his provoking and boundary-pushing artworks, examining mortality and our inherently human structures and urges such as religion and desire. His installations consist of dead cows, a life sized shark, pigs, sheep or butterflies.

Beside installations, the British artist is also occupied with drawing and painting. Since the new millennium, he has also been taking on still life painting. Doing so, Hirst is filling his canvases with fruit, flowers, skulls and even fetuses, continuing his postmodern examination of mortality in a contemporary era, using the historical tradition of still life painting and its iconography.

For further reading on Damien Hirst, we highly recommend Damien Hirst: End of a Century.

4. David Hockney

One of the undoubted most famous painters today, David Hockney is a contemporary painter born in 1937 in Bradford, the United Kingdom, and currently lives and works in Normandy, France. His body of figurative works encompasses seven decades, and is marked by the influence of his direct environment. Think of the iconic pools in Los Angeles, his friends and family in his portraits and double portraits, his dogs, the fields of Yorkshire or the blossoms in the landscapes of Normandy.

Doing so, he also depicted the everyday objects in his environment, taking on the still life in a manner characteristic for the British virtuoso. Especially during the 1990s, Hockney strongly commits to still life painting, examining the genre in its purest form.

For further reading on David Hockney, we highly recommend David Hockney published by Tate in 2017.

5. Alex Katz

Born in 1927 in Brooklyn, and currently living and working in New York City, the United States of America, Alex Katz is a contemporary painter who is one of the most influential painters today. His characteristic distinctively figurative visual language, marked by large and clear planes of colour inspired by Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art, have been dominating the art scene since the 1950s up to this day.

Katz draws inspiration from contemporary life, encompassing his friends, films, ads, or items from his direct environment. Doing so, the American painter takes on still life painting in a similar manner as with his portraits. He uses photographic strategies such as cropping or decoupage, aiming to achieve the perfect fragment to paint.

For further reading on Alex Katz, we highly recommend Alex Katz from the Phaidon Contemporary Art Series.

6. Yayoi Kusama

Up next we have the Japanese superstar Yayoi Kusama. Born in 1929 in Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan, Kusama is one of the most influential contemporary artists in the world, and currently resides and works in Tokyo, Japan. Her trademark motives such as polka dots, pumpkins and the notion of infinity, function as a continuüm throughout her oeuvre, encompassing various media, including painting.

When it comes to still life painting, besides the pumpkin painting, one encounters the depiction of flowers, vases, ashtrays and much more. Yayoi Kusama takes on the still life in a way only she could do. Her visual language is the result of her mental illness in which she is disoriented by hallucinations, spots, and the dazzling sensation of experiencing infinity. Doing so, she depicts everyday objects the way she sees them in almost obsessive manner. The still life is a result of unconscious processes, which the Japanese artist aims to grasp and document onto her canvas.

For further reading on Yayoi Kusama, we highly recommend Yayoi Kusama: A Retrospective.

7. Roy Lichtenstein

As with out number 11 of this list, we are currently balancing between contemporary still life painting and modern still life painting. Roy Lichtenstein was born in 1923 and passed away in 1997 in New York City. The American artist pioneered Pop Art into the contemporary era.

Lichtenstein is best known for his distinctive use of illustrative and commercial painting styles. He painted works as if they were made mechanically, simulating the esthetics of silkscreens and cartoons, blending low art in a high art medium. Doing so, Lichtenstein produced dozens of still lives, resulting in a retrospective soloshow in this subgenre at the industry leading art gallery Gagosian back in 2010.

For further reading on Roy Lichtenstein, we highly recommend Lichtenstein published by Taschen in 2016.

8. Yan Pei-Ming

Born in 1960 in Shanghai, China, Yan Pei-Ming is a contemporary painter living and working in Dijon, France. Pei-Ming’s oeuvre is build upon European painterly traditions. Think of his contemporary portrait paintings of politicians, actors, himself, or the pope.

The monochrome paintings with virtuoso impasto’s also take on the European tradition of still life painting. Fascinated by the Vanitus skull motive, but also by the cabinet of curiosities, or fruits, Yan Pei-Ming continues to produce stunning still life paintings in his very own style, hovering between reality and imagination.

For further reading on Yan Pei-Ming, we highly recommend Yan Pei-Ming: Tigres & Vautours.

9. Gerhard Richter

Arguably the most famous painter today, Gerhard Richter is born in 1932 in Dresden and currently resides and works in Cologne, Germany. Richter is best known for his pure abstract paintings on the one hand, and on the other for his meticulously painted photo paintings.

With his photo paintings, Richter encompasses numerous genres, including landscape painting, portrait painting, interiors, nudes, and of course, still life painting. Richter painted a vast amount of still lives, think of his immense production of paintings depicting candles, apples, flowers or every day objects.

For further reading on Gerhard Richter, we highly recommend Gerhard Richter: Panorama on the occasion of his eponymous retrospective at Tate Modern in London.

10. Luc Tuymans

Luc Tuymans, born in 1958 in Mortsel, Belgium, currently residing and working in Antwerp, is one of the most influential painters today and a pioneer of so-called New European Painting. His paintings are often muted in colour, effectuated with nervous brushstrokes, and take on a specific narrative creating an undercurrent within the image.

Tuymans takes on any genre with his specific style. With his still lives, it is clear something else is going on instead of the mere depiction of the selected objects. For instance, with Untitled (Still Life) from 2002, he created a monumental still life painting as a reaction to the trauma of 9/11. Tuymans flees to the Idyll as a counteraction, yet the painting is filled by the historic trauma which seems to reside in the painting.

For further reading on Luc Tuymans, we highly recommend the multivolume reasoned overview Luc Tuymans: Catalogue Raisonné.

11. Andy Warhol

We conclude our top 11 with an artist as iconic as it can get, Andy Warhol. Born in 1928 in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Andy Warhol is an American pop artist with Austrian-Hungarian roots, and passed away untimely in New York City aged just 58 in 1987.

A man of many talents, Andy Warhol was a film director, a very successful commercial illustrator, a producer, and of course one of the most important artists who pioneered Pop Art during the 1960s. Inherently connected to Pop Art’s affinity with everyday objects, Warhol has created groundbreaking still lives, such as Campbell’s Soup Cans, banana’s, perfumes, dollar bills, coca-cola bottles, and much more.

For further reading on Andy Warhol, we highly recommend Warhol from Taschen’s Basic Art Series.

12. William Bailey

13. Claudio Bravo

14. Manuele Cerutti

15. Holly Coulis

16. Nicole Dyer

17. Alec Egan

18. Inka Essenhigh

19. Scott Fraser

20. Raymond Han

21. Yang Jiechang

22. Johannes Kahrs

23. Julio Larraz

24. Alan Magee

25. Nikki Maloof

26. Justin Mortimer

27. Luca Pancrazzi

28. Hilary Pecis

29. Timothée Schelstraete

30. Ben Schonzeit

31. Michael Simpson

32. Mircea Suciu

33. Kim Tschang-Yeul

34. Gavin Turk

35. Anna Valdez

36. Luciano Ventrone

37. Cornelius Völker

39. Alison Watt

40. Matthias Weischer

41. James White

42. Clare Woods

43. Guy Yanai

44. Cristof Yvoré

45. Yang Zhenzong

Notes:

[1] Tate, Still life at https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/s/still-life consulted 17/01/2022.
[2] D. Crimp, “The End of Painting” in October (1981): p. 69-86 (consulted via https://doi.org/10.2307/778375).

Last Updated on October 26, 2024