Chaim Soutine

Moody, gory, imbued with emotion; provocative, expressive, disconcerting – these are all traits of Chaim Soutine’s paintings. Born a Jew in Russia, the expressionist artist suffered abuse and discrimination which led him to move to Paris at age 20 – though the unfortunate experiences of his childhood would later bleed into his work.

le poisson by chaim soutine — **Le Poisson** is simply one of his numerous still-lifes; *he enjoyed painting food.*

la femme accoudée by chaim soutine — *Soutine also painted portraits, such as **La Femme Accoudée**.*

Soutine was greatly inspired by Rembrandt and Jean-Baptiste Chardin, resulting in a large amount of still-lifes and dark, dramatic lighting applied to his pieces. He also befriended Amedeo Modigliani, and the two had a symbiotic artistic relationship. Soutine was successful as an artist in Paris despite his Russian-Jewish heritage, though he still considered himself an outsider and was discriminated against greatly – Modigliani was one of his only friends.

His most venerated series of paintings – the very reason I chose to write about him – is titled Carcass of Beef. As a poor starving artist living in Paris, Soutine couldn’t afford to have meat in his diet; he spent his money on art supplies instead. This led to terrible stomach ulcers, though even when he could afford proper sustenance, he decided to fast as he claimed it kept his perception sharper while painting. Ironic, that he would paint food rather than eat it. Nevertheless, I love these paintings, perhaps due to my affinity with gore and macabre imagery.

*The **Carcass of Beef** , series was obviously based on Rembrandt’s painting “Slaughtered Ox”. Here is a detail shot of one of the paintings, which sells for 20 million USD today.*

Soutine would cover the carcasses in fresh blood from the slaughterhouse to enhance the colours.
The carcasses would be hung up in his studio, with the neighbours reporting him to authorities multiple times due to the stench.