Chaïm Soutine was born in a shtetl in present-day Belarus and moved to Paris in 1913. The Jewish artist’s experiences of migration, poverty and cultural alienation influenced his work deeply; instead of embracing the Cubist or Surrealist movements that became popular in the French capital during the 1920s, Soutine chose to focus on depicting poorer members of society – bellboys, chambermaids and cooks – and frequently painted still lifes of food, which he had often had to go without. This exhibition at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf (2 September–14 January 2024) features more than 60 paintings, with a focus on works created between 1918–28, which reveal Soutine as an important documentarian of life in the years following the First World War. Find out more on K20’s website.
Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary
The Rayfish (1922), Chaïm Soutine. Musée Calvet, ville d’Avignon; © ADAGP, Paris 2011
Still Life with Herrings (1915–16), Chaïm Soutine. Courtesy Galerie Larock-Granoff, Paris
The Groom (1925), Chaïm Soutine. Centre Pompidou, Paris. Courtesy BPK/CNAC-MNAM/Philippe Migeat
Unlimited access from just $16 every 3 months
Subscribe to get unlimited and exclusive access to the top art stories, interviews and exhibition reviews.
![Masterpiece [Re]discovery 2022. Photo: Ben Fisher Photography, courtesy of Masterpiece London](http://www.apollo-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/MPL2022_4263.jpg)
Has the Fitzwilliam lost the hang of things?