Art: Luis Melendez @ the National Gallery, Washington D.C

Luis Melendez, Still Life with Watermelons and Apples, Museo del Prado, Madrid.

I have never been drawn to 'Stillleben'. What exactly is so impressive and fascinating about paintings that portray, with such excessively embroidered detail, decaying fruits and vegetables or impeccable yet improbable floral arrangements? What possibly can be the meaning behind these overly crafted compositions? Where is the emotion that, in my (narrow) mind, art needs!?

Luis Melendez, an Italian by birth, but a life-long Madrileno, captured my interest at the National Gallery in DC. The 30-odd oil on canvases by Melendez focused heavily on the juxtaposition of 'exotic' and common-place edibles displayed in various arrangements, often set in peaceful rural Spanish landscapes. From the Royal house of Asturias, Meledez was commissioned to paint "the four Seasons of the Year -- with the aim of composing an amusing cabinet with every species of food produced by the Spanish climate." It was perhaps, the painting featured above, as part of this season order: Still Life with Watermelons and Apples, that did it for me. Up close, the juicy, palpable chunks of pink watermelon dripping off the canvas with little black cockroach-like pits roaming through the rose-colored terrain, were a calling that wrote: virtuosity. He captures the subtle shifts of textures, and the gleams of light from the succulent watermelon and the lustrous pits with such care that its almost...comical!

His contemporary, Francisco Goya, overshadowed Melendez’s career and only recently has his work been re-evaluated and reappraised. Today, he is seen as one of the preeminent still-life artists.