Meet the Art: Still Life with Basket of Fruit (Quick Tip)

An oil painting of a basket of fruit on a brown wooden table, with insects crawling in and around the basket. A bowl of lemons and crustaceans is on the left side of the table, and scattered pieces of produce, bugs, and flowers are depicted in the foreground and on the right side of the table.
Balthasar van der Ast, Still Life with a Basket of Fruit

Look

A still life is a painting of real things such as fruit and flowers that the artist thought would make a good picture. Artists like to use things with different colors and shapes in still-life paintings. Sometimes they include little surprises that you have to look very carefully to see. This painting shows things that come from nature.

  • Find something you can eat. What is it?
  • Find an insect.
  • Find a shell.

If you wanted to make a still-life painting, where would you go to get things like these?

Connect

Look on NCMALearn, for a work of art that is made from something in nature. What did the artist use to make the work of art? 

Enrich

Look at pictures of a farmers market (or visit one when you are able) to see all the fruits, vegetables, and flowers. What are your favorite fruits? Do you have favorite vegetables?

Arrange your favorite fruits and vegetables into a still life. Make a painting or drawing of what you see, or use play dough to make your favorite fruits and vegetables.

Put them on a platter or in a tiny basket.

Grade level
Pre-K, K, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade
Subject Areas
Visual Arts
Concepts
Environment, Observation, Part/Whole