The Bread is the Life
Many artists have used the humble loaf of bread to speak of survival, cultural identity, transcendent spirit…
Bread has appeared in art ever since the agrarian civilisations which relied upon grain as a staple food have existed. There is an Egyptian hieroglyph, a simple semi-circle, that depicts bread, and this symbol went on to have a variety of meanings — feminine, offering — depending on context. Bread’s importance for survival meant it also symbolised spiritual sustenance, especially in Christian services re-enacting the last supper.
The last supper itself has been the subject of countless artists, most notably Leonardo da Vinci who produced his famous fifteenth-century fresco for a convent in Milan, and Salvador Dali, who painted a mystical interpretation of the Sacrament of the Last Supper in 1955, inspired by the Renaissance masters and its metaphysical themes, which has since became one of his most popular and reproduced images. But Dali also produced powerful paintings of bread itself, referencing an established heritage in art history.
In the sixteenth century, the Dutch Masters had devoted their skills to many still lifes of food, which emphasised the opulence and exotic goods their rich patrons could enjoy — lobsters, citrus fruits, game. Among those Enlightenment…
