Farm to Table: Art, Food, and Identity in the Age of Impressionism

A wide-ranging exploration of art, gastronomy, and national identity in fin-de-siècle France. At the end of the nineteenth century, artists such as Claude Monet, Eva Gonzalès, and Paul Gauguin took as their subject France’s relationship with food. The country’s bountiful agriculture and the skill of its chefs had long helped to define its strength and position on the international stage. This self-image as the world’s culinary capital only grew as the country grappled with war, political instability, imperialism, and industrialization. France’s culinary traditions signaled notions of its refinement, fortitude, and ingenuity, yet they also exposed fractures. From cultivation to consumption, food was central to notions of glory but also to those of collective pain. For artists committed to depicting daily circumstances, food was a natural subject, simultaneously quotidian and indicative of the state of the nation. Featuring more than one hundred illustrations, Farm to Table showcases re