Eating Art

Why did Matisse paint oranges? What lay behind Dali’s obsession with bread? What was Rembrandt trying to say with an Ox carcass? Did Da Vinci accurately depict what Jesus ate at the Last Supper?  

Eating Art also explores artists’ relationship with food and drink. Uncovering the history and stories behind food on canvas, Eating Art bridges the world of the visual and culinary arts, bringing great gastronomic paintings to life in the kitchens of the world’s most acclaimed chefs.
    
Before photography, only paintings reveal what and how we used to eat. Uncovering the history and stories behind food on canvas, Eating Art travels across Europe and North America on the trail of history’s most prolific food paintings and artists.

Celebrated restaurateur and art collector Oliver Peyton explores the symbolism and significance of foods that artists chose to depict; visits artists’ homes where the ingredients were produced; and discovers how food was cooked at the time. Then in the kitchens of some of the best restaurants on the planet, the world’s greatest chefs bring the gastronomic artworks to life, taking inspiration from the paintings to create their own masterpiece on a plate.

EPISODE 1: ON THE MENU
How did we cook 400 years ago?  When did cutlery come into use?  Why did one of the world’s greatest artists write a cookbook? Through Franz Snijder’s Kitchen Still Life (1605), Oliver Peyton discovers how cooking methods have changed over the centuries, uprooting chef Glynn Purnell from his modern restaurant to Britain’s only ancient working kitchen where he learns how to cook roast beef over an open fire.  Painted for Louis XVI, De Troy’s Hunt Lunch (1737) marks a pivotal moment in the history of dining. Over an 18th century lunch at one of the first ever restaurants, culinary historian Carolin Young explains their evolution and reveals the salacious story behind private dining rooms.  Artists haven’t only painted food – Claude Monet, one of art’s unsung foodies, actually wrote a cookbook.  At the idyllic Giverny, Oliver discovers what was on Monet’s menu and, inspired by Dejeuner sur L’Herbe (1866), Michelin three star chef Yannick Alleno creates a picnic lunch in the famous garden.

EPISODE 2: BRUSH WITH THE BOTTLE
Why have artists since Egyptian times chosen wine as a subject matter?  How did an 18th century artist use gin to stop riots?  And why did an Impressionist painting featuring absinthe cause outrage?  Oliver Peyton investigates art’s greatest alcoholic stories, starting with Poussin’s La Grande Baccanale (1627) celebrating the bonhomie of booze - but alcohol’s portrayal in art hasn’t always been so jovial.  Manet’s iconic A Bar at the Folies-Bergere (1882) speaks volumes about the artist’s view of café society and William Hogarth’s Gin Lane (1751) dramatically illustrates the perils of gin, which in the 1800s was causing widespread drunkenness on London streets and huge social unrest.  Michelin starred chef Billy Reid creates a traditional English dish inspired by Gin Lane.  Degas’ Dans Un Café (1876) caused public outrage when it was first exhibited in London - author Jad Adams tells the painting’s elaborate story, while mixologist Nick Strangeway creates a Green Fairy cocktail.

EPISODE 3: FULLY BAKED
How was bread made 2000 years ago? Why was Dali obsessed by bread? And how can paintings uncover historical baking methods? Oliver Peyton sees one of bread’s earliest depictions, a Pompeii fresco dating from the 1st century AD showing a man selling loaves to the public; he discovers how bread was made in Roman times, and used to control the masses.  Bread was one of Salvador Dali’s obsessions. Oliver travels to Spain, seeing the extraordinary bread rolls and baguettes Dali chose to decorate the walls of his foundation with, and is overwhelmed by Dali’s The Basket of Bread (1945), which the artist took with him everywhere. In 1969 Dali met the famous Parisian baker Lionel Poilane with whom he started a long lasting creative collaboration, commissioning bread furniture and even a full bedroom from bread. Oliver meets Lionel’s daughter Appollonia, as a bread chandelier originally made for the great Surrealist is recreated in the bakery. Job Berckheyde’s The Baker (1681) is a magnificent visual record of baking methods at the time; contemporary bakers were mostly illiterate, so few 17th century recipes exist.  Artisan baker Dan Lepard analyses the painting, searching for clues as to how he can recreate two of the seven breads portrayed by Berckheyde.

EPISODE 4: FRUIT PALETTES
How did an apple change art history? For which artist were oranges the only fruit? And how was the evolution of trade reflected with fruit? In front of Supper at Emmaus (1601), art historian Andrew Graham Dixon tells Oliver Peyton how the rebel Italian Caravaggio was the first to paint apples so realistic the viewer literally wanted to lick the canvas, whilst in Tuscany, Oliver goes on a forensic fruit investigation with archaeological arborealist Isabella della Ragione, who uses Renaissance artworks to help revive ancient varieties of fruit. In the South of France, Oliver is hit by the force of orange in Matisse’s Nature Morte aux Grenades (1947), discovering how a basket of oranges formed a lasting connection between the artist and Picasso, and the world’s only female Michelin starred chef Anne-Sophie Pic creates her own Matisse inspired dish. Oliver travels to Amsterdam to uncover the tale of trade and wealth that lay behind Dutch Still Life fruit paintings in the 1600s. Focusing on Jan de Heem’s Festoon of Fruit (1660), he discovers why these fruit artworks became a must-have for every nouveau riche Dutch dining room whilst in the fruit filled Napa Valley, Michelin two star chef Christopher Kustow creates a dish for De Heem.

EPISODE 5: BEEFED UP ART
Why have oxen and cows been the subject matter of artists from Hirst to Rembrandt, Bacon to Hogarth?  At London’s Smithfield Market, Oliver Peyton meets art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon to find out, then travels to Paris to see Rembrandt’s powerful Carcass of Beef (1655).  Butcher Jack O’Shea reveals more about the painting, and in the Dutch Master’s home of Amsterdam, Oliver tastes a Rembrandt inspired beef dish.  Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec wasn’t just a womanising hedonist – he was an accomplished chef too.  He saw cookery as art and compiled a book of his own recipes, many of them featuring beef.  Oliver visits Lautrec’s family chateau in Bordeaux where the artist spent hours in the kitchen, and seeing Lautrec’s 1881 painting Les Boeufs sous le Joug, discovers he could draw oxen before he could even sign his name.  Back at Smithfield Market, beef expert and chef John Torode cooks his version of Toulouse-Lautrec’s recipe Boeuf a la Malrome.

EPISODE 6: SEA POWER
What symbolic importance does seafood hold for artists? And how did a landlocked 16th century artist manage to create a painting featuring 62 different sea life species? Oliver Peyton starts his fishy journey looking at the cartoon-like Fish Magic (1925) by Swiss artist Paul Klee then travels to New York, where Klee was hugely popular, to the famous Japanese restaurant Nobu where his painting is recreated in sushi.  Italian artist Arcimboldo’s surreal portraits were ahead of their time, including Water (1566), made up of 62 species of sea life.  Oliver travels to Venice’s Rialto fish market to find if the species still exist and on the Tuscan coast, Michelin starred chef Fulvio Pierangelini creates a dish capturing the essence of Arcimboldo’s work. Oysters have always caught the imagination of artists. In Whitstable, Oliver gets on the water to dredge the famous oyster beds, so popular that Romans had them shipped to Italy. Inspired by Dutch artist De Heem’s Still Life with a Glass and Oysters (1640), local chef Stephen Harris creates a fitting dish in his Michelin starred pub by the sea.

EPISODE 7: EATING WITH PICASSO
Why did food feature so prominently in Picasso’s work? What symbolism did it have? And what did Picasso actually like to eat himself? Oliver Peyton starts his journey in Barcelona, experiencing the gutsy Catalonian food of Picasso’s youth that inspired future works, whilst in the South of France he visits restaurant La Colombe d’Or, also a mini modern art museum thanks to regulars like Picasso donating artworks to its owner in the 1930s. In Paris, where Picasso spent the war years, his former lover Genevieve Laporte reveals his favourite dishes; Oliver discovers some little known Picasso works drawn on paper tablecloths with tomato ketchup, mustard and coffee; and in LA, he sees the privately owned Still Life with Blood Sausage (1941), a powerful war painting with the food of Picasso’s homeland literally under the spotlight. Living in the South of France in his final years Picasso devoted himself to ceramics, particularly plates with meat, fish and vegetables in relief. Michelin starred chef Mauro Colagreco creates two incredible Picasso ceramics-inspired dishes at his Cote d’Azur restaurant Mirazur.

EPISODE 8: SQUARE MEALS
21st century chefs are changing how we see food with molecular gastronomy; 100 years ago, cubists were doing the same with art. Exploring these two movements, Oliver Peyton discovers how food and art are inextricably linked. Cubists created a new visual language, with food playing a key role in its development. Paul Cezanne led the way, famously saying he wanted to astonish Paris with an apple. Oliver visits his studio in Southern France where he painted Apples and Oranges (1899), whilst a similarly radical molecular gastronomy chef in America, Sam Mason, creates a Cubist apple dish.  Inspired by Cezanne, artists Picasso, Braque and Juan Gris developed Cubism in the French town of Ceret. Oliver tests his art comfort zone in front of Gris’ Bottle of Rum and Newspaper (1914), then visits Michelin starred chef Wylie Dufresne in New York who blends art and science to create a Gris inspired dish.  Cubists weren’t the only artists starting a creative shift; The Futurists’ view of food mirrored the Cubists’ view on art, their 1909 cookbook championing dishes including chicken with ball bearings and salami cooked in coffee and eau de cologne.  The Futurists’ ideals are continued today in Modena by conceptual Michelin two star chef, Massimo Bottura, who creates three extraordinary avant garde dishes.

EPISODE 9: THE LAST SUPPER
Leonardo Da Vinci wasn’t the only artist to depict the Last Supper and the food on Jesus’ table, as Oliver Peyton discovers on an extraordinary Italian road trip. Oliver’s first stop is the earliest existing artistic depiction of Jesus’ betrayal by Judas, a 6th century mosaic in the coastal town of Ravenna where only fish and bread appear at the table. From there, he ventures into the Northern Italian mountains with culinary historian Carolin Young, who has discovered some unusual Last Supper frescos showing the holy party eating crayfish, pork and brioches – but why? The trail gets more intriguing as Oliver heads to Venice to see elaborate Last Suppers by Tintoretto (1594) and Veronese (1573), whose controversial depiction nearly landed the artist in prison.  All roads to the Last Supper lead to Milan, where Oliver sees Da Vinci’s incredible work (1498) in the flesh and some interesting contemporary dishes on the table. Inspired by his travels, Oliver creates his own Last Supper at his London restaurant, inviting key cultural figures and friends to discover how they would envisage a modern depiction of the Last Supper.

EPISODE 10: SELLING FOOD
Why were market scenes so inspirational to painters? How did artists become involved in the birth of advertising? And what lies behind Warhol’s most iconic branded artwork? Flemish artist Beucklaer’s The Four Elements: Earth (1569), depicting a market stall laden with fruit and vegetables, shocked the establishment by portraying food in a secular way for the first time. Amsterdam restaurant De Kas, which grows vegetables on the premises, makes a dish inspired by the colourful painting. In 1890s Paris, the new boulevards evolved into living art galleries as the walls became covered in food advertising created by Europe’s finest artists.  “Postermania” marked the birth of branding, exemplified by Theophile Steinlen’s hot chocolate poster Compagnie Francaise des Chocolats et des Thes (1895). Artisan chocolatier Rococo prepares chocolate as it would have been at the time.  Oliver investigates Andy Warhol’s iconic soup can print, Black Bean (1968). Why did Warhol choose such a mundane item?  Oliver travels to New York to investigate how the now defunct restaurant Max’s Kansas City became indelibly linked with Warhol and his entourage, whilst the bad boy of NY cuisine, Paul Liebrandt, creates a dish inspired by Warhol’s iconic food image.

Are you salivating with the thought of more recipes by Oliver Payton? Fret not, click this way to purchase Oliver’s The National Cook Book, featuring over 120 traditional dishes by Oliver and hi chefs. Yum!

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