Whilst the history of cheese probably dates all the way back to Prehistory, it became incredibly widespread during the Middle Ages - popular cheeses which are still enjoyed today such as Cheddar, Parmesan, and Gruyère were all developed during this time. Cheesemaking became an essential way of preserving milk, which was particularly necessary during the hot summer months when the majority of people didn’t have access to methods of refrigeration. This illumination is taken from the Medieval Tacuinum sanitatis manuscript, an Arab treatise on hygiene and health which shows the production of soft cheese, known in Latin as Caseus recens. The Tacuinum sanitatis has several illustrations of the cheesemaking process, but we’re extra fond of this one because of the extra-cute inclusion of a dog licking up the excess buttermilk.
No-one does a still life quite like the Dutch Masters - in fact images of mouthwatering smorgasbords were so characteristic of the Netherlands art that we even take our name for the genre from the Durch word stilleven, which was adopted into English sometime in the seventeenth century. The Dutch even have an entirely cheese-heavy still life genre called ontbijtje, which translates as ‘breakfast piece’, of which this delectable van Dyck is one such example. Mornings might feel a little more tolerable with this spread as opposed to the usual slice of toast and bowl of cornflakes.
Making a tongue-in-cheek nod to arguably his most famous piece of art The Treachery of Images (also known as This Is Not a Pipe), René Magritte chose here to install a painting of a very oozy slice of Brie under a glass cloche. In doing so, Magritte continued to use art as a meta-medium for subverting traditional ideas about visual and linguistic representation, and the boundary between art and reality, words and image.
Pop Artist Roy Lichtenstein used familiar shapes and compositions from everyday visual culture to make playful commentary on contemporary life, and in 1977 he entered a period of creating work inspired by the Surrealists. Though Lichetenstein’s rigid composition and primary colour palette might be a long way away from drippy clocks of The Persistence of Memory (which, art urban legend supposes was in fact inspired by a particularly decadent Camembert), there’s a clear parallel with Son of Man - though we have to say this holey swiss seems a step up from Magritte’s iconic apple. Swiss cheese became a recurrent motif in Lichentenstein’s work from then on, though Cheese Head remains the most recognisable instance. When asked later for the meaning behind the piece, he stated it was in fact an intended criticism of the neoliberal President Reagan, who in his own let-them-eat-cake moment suggested that the poor should be fed with surplus cheese.
Rounding up our list is a more left-field suggestion, and one in which the canvas has been totally abandoned and cheese itself becomes the medium as well as the message. Italian artist and illustrator Gabriel Pino (@pinocoteca) created an entire series using edible pigments to paint his artwork directly onto wheels of cheese, creating something that very literally looks far too good to eat. In fact, Instagram has an entire community of cheese-artists: French art duo Ich and Kar (@ichetkar) also created a series of architectural models carved from gargantuan blocks of cheese, and the husband and wife team of classically trained sculptors Jim Victor and Marie Pelton (@jvmp_foodsculpt) though beginning with more traditional materials like stone and wood now work exclusively in cheese and butter.
For any London based readers looking for some beautiful art-cheese combinations of their own, we recommend trying out Paxton and Whitfield - at less than a five minute walk from the Royal Academy you can catch the Milton Avery exhibition and then refuel with something delicious from Britain's oldest cheesemonger - though we absolutely guarantee you won't be able to spare enough to craft a cheese sculpture of your own.
Whilst the history of cheese probably dates all the way back to Prehistory, it became incredibly widespread during the Middle Ages - popular cheeses which are still enjoyed today such as Cheddar, Parmesan, and Gruyère were all developed during this time. Cheesemaking became an essential way of preserving milk, which was particularly necessary during the hot summer months when the majority of people didn’t have access to methods of refrigeration. This illumination is taken from the Medieval Tacuinum sanitatis manuscript, an Arab treatise on hygiene and health which shows the production of soft cheese, known in Latin as Caseus recens. The Tacuinum sanitatis has several illustrations of the cheesemaking process, but we’re extra fond of this one because of the extra-cute inclusion of a dog licking up the excess buttermilk.
No-one does a still life quite like the Dutch Masters - in fact images of mouthwatering smorgasbords were so characteristic of the Netherlands art that we even take our name for the genre from the Durch word stilleven, which was adopted into English sometime in the seventeenth century. The Dutch even have an entirely cheese-heavy still life genre called ontbijtje, which translates as ‘breakfast piece’, of which this delectable van Dyck is one such example. Mornings might feel a little more tolerable with this spread as opposed to the usual slice of toast and bowl of cornflakes.
Making a tongue-in-cheek nod to arguably his most famous piece of art The Treachery of Images (also known as This Is Not a Pipe), René Magritte chose here to install a painting of a very oozy slice of Brie under a glass cloche. In doing so, Magritte continued to use art as a meta-medium for subverting traditional ideas about visual and linguistic representation, and the boundary between art and reality, words and image.
Pop Artist Roy Lichtenstein used familiar shapes and compositions from everyday visual culture to make playful commentary on contemporary life, and in 1977 he entered a period of creating work inspired by the Surrealists. Though Lichetenstein’s rigid composition and primary colour palette might be a long way away from drippy clocks of The Persistence of Memory (which, art urban legend supposes was in fact inspired by a particularly decadent Camembert), there’s a clear parallel with Son of Man - though we have to say this holey swiss seems a step up from Magritte’s iconic apple. Swiss cheese became a recurrent motif in Lichentenstein’s work from then on, though Cheese Head remains the most recognisable instance. When asked later for the meaning behind the piece, he stated it was in fact an intended criticism of the neoliberal President Reagan, who in his own let-them-eat-cake moment suggested that the poor should be fed with surplus cheese.
Rounding up our list is a more left-field suggestion, and one in which the canvas has been totally abandoned and cheese itself becomes the medium as well as the message. Italian artist and illustrator Gabriel Pino (@pinocoteca) created an entire series using edible pigments to paint his artwork directly onto wheels of cheese, creating something that very literally looks far too good to eat. In fact, Instagram has an entire community of cheese-artists: French art duo Ich and Kar (@ichetkar) also created a series of architectural models carved from gargantuan blocks of cheese, and the husband and wife team of classically trained sculptors Jim Victor and Marie Pelton (@jvmp_foodsculpt) though beginning with more traditional materials like stone and wood now work exclusively in cheese and butter.
For any London based readers looking for some beautiful art-cheese combinations of their own, we recommend trying out Paxton and Whitfield - at less than a five minute walk from the Royal Academy you can catch the Milton Avery exhibition and then refuel with something delicious from Britain's oldest cheesemonger - though we absolutely guarantee you won't be able to spare enough to craft a cheese sculpture of your own.
Whilst the history of cheese probably dates all the way back to Prehistory, it became incredibly widespread during the Middle Ages - popular cheeses which are still enjoyed today such as Cheddar, Parmesan, and Gruyère were all developed during this time. Cheesemaking became an essential way of preserving milk, which was particularly necessary during the hot summer months when the majority of people didn’t have access to methods of refrigeration. This illumination is taken from the Medieval Tacuinum sanitatis manuscript, an Arab treatise on hygiene and health which shows the production of soft cheese, known in Latin as Caseus recens. The Tacuinum sanitatis has several illustrations of the cheesemaking process, but we’re extra fond of this one because of the extra-cute inclusion of a dog licking up the excess buttermilk.
No-one does a still life quite like the Dutch Masters - in fact images of mouthwatering smorgasbords were so characteristic of the Netherlands art that we even take our name for the genre from the Durch word stilleven, which was adopted into English sometime in the seventeenth century. The Dutch even have an entirely cheese-heavy still life genre called ontbijtje, which translates as ‘breakfast piece’, of which this delectable van Dyck is one such example. Mornings might feel a little more tolerable with this spread as opposed to the usual slice of toast and bowl of cornflakes.
Making a tongue-in-cheek nod to arguably his most famous piece of art The Treachery of Images (also known as This Is Not a Pipe), René Magritte chose here to install a painting of a very oozy slice of Brie under a glass cloche. In doing so, Magritte continued to use art as a meta-medium for subverting traditional ideas about visual and linguistic representation, and the boundary between art and reality, words and image.
Pop Artist Roy Lichtenstein used familiar shapes and compositions from everyday visual culture to make playful commentary on contemporary life, and in 1977 he entered a period of creating work inspired by the Surrealists. Though Lichetenstein’s rigid composition and primary colour palette might be a long way away from drippy clocks of The Persistence of Memory (which, art urban legend supposes was in fact inspired by a particularly decadent Camembert), there’s a clear parallel with Son of Man - though we have to say this holey swiss seems a step up from Magritte’s iconic apple. Swiss cheese became a recurrent motif in Lichentenstein’s work from then on, though Cheese Head remains the most recognisable instance. When asked later for the meaning behind the piece, he stated it was in fact an intended criticism of the neoliberal President Reagan, who in his own let-them-eat-cake moment suggested that the poor should be fed with surplus cheese.
Rounding up our list is a more left-field suggestion, and one in which the canvas has been totally abandoned and cheese itself becomes the medium as well as the message. Italian artist and illustrator Gabriel Pino (@pinocoteca) created an entire series using edible pigments to paint his artwork directly onto wheels of cheese, creating something that very literally looks far too good to eat. In fact, Instagram has an entire community of cheese-artists: French art duo Ich and Kar (@ichetkar) also created a series of architectural models carved from gargantuan blocks of cheese, and the husband and wife team of classically trained sculptors Jim Victor and Marie Pelton (@jvmp_foodsculpt) though beginning with more traditional materials like stone and wood now work exclusively in cheese and butter.
For any London based readers looking for some beautiful art-cheese combinations of their own, we recommend trying out Paxton and Whitfield - at less than a five minute walk from the Royal Academy you can catch the Milton Avery exhibition and then refuel with something delicious from Britain's oldest cheesemonger - though we absolutely guarantee you won't be able to spare enough to craft a cheese sculpture of your own.
Whilst the history of cheese probably dates all the way back to Prehistory, it became incredibly widespread during the Middle Ages - popular cheeses which are still enjoyed today such as Cheddar, Parmesan, and Gruyère were all developed during this time. Cheesemaking became an essential way of preserving milk, which was particularly necessary during the hot summer months when the majority of people didn’t have access to methods of refrigeration. This illumination is taken from the Medieval Tacuinum sanitatis manuscript, an Arab treatise on hygiene and health which shows the production of soft cheese, known in Latin as Caseus recens. The Tacuinum sanitatis has several illustrations of the cheesemaking process, but we’re extra fond of this one because of the extra-cute inclusion of a dog licking up the excess buttermilk.
No-one does a still life quite like the Dutch Masters - in fact images of mouthwatering smorgasbords were so characteristic of the Netherlands art that we even take our name for the genre from the Durch word stilleven, which was adopted into English sometime in the seventeenth century. The Dutch even have an entirely cheese-heavy still life genre called ontbijtje, which translates as ‘breakfast piece’, of which this delectable van Dyck is one such example. Mornings might feel a little more tolerable with this spread as opposed to the usual slice of toast and bowl of cornflakes.
Making a tongue-in-cheek nod to arguably his most famous piece of art The Treachery of Images (also known as This Is Not a Pipe), René Magritte chose here to install a painting of a very oozy slice of Brie under a glass cloche. In doing so, Magritte continued to use art as a meta-medium for subverting traditional ideas about visual and linguistic representation, and the boundary between art and reality, words and image.
Pop Artist Roy Lichtenstein used familiar shapes and compositions from everyday visual culture to make playful commentary on contemporary life, and in 1977 he entered a period of creating work inspired by the Surrealists. Though Lichetenstein’s rigid composition and primary colour palette might be a long way away from drippy clocks of The Persistence of Memory (which, art urban legend supposes was in fact inspired by a particularly decadent Camembert), there’s a clear parallel with Son of Man - though we have to say this holey swiss seems a step up from Magritte’s iconic apple. Swiss cheese became a recurrent motif in Lichentenstein’s work from then on, though Cheese Head remains the most recognisable instance. When asked later for the meaning behind the piece, he stated it was in fact an intended criticism of the neoliberal President Reagan, who in his own let-them-eat-cake moment suggested that the poor should be fed with surplus cheese.
Rounding up our list is a more left-field suggestion, and one in which the canvas has been totally abandoned and cheese itself becomes the medium as well as the message. Italian artist and illustrator Gabriel Pino (@pinocoteca) created an entire series using edible pigments to paint his artwork directly onto wheels of cheese, creating something that very literally looks far too good to eat. In fact, Instagram has an entire community of cheese-artists: French art duo Ich and Kar (@ichetkar) also created a series of architectural models carved from gargantuan blocks of cheese, and the husband and wife team of classically trained sculptors Jim Victor and Marie Pelton (@jvmp_foodsculpt) though beginning with more traditional materials like stone and wood now work exclusively in cheese and butter.
For any London based readers looking for some beautiful art-cheese combinations of their own, we recommend trying out Paxton and Whitfield - at less than a five minute walk from the Royal Academy you can catch the Milton Avery exhibition and then refuel with something delicious from Britain's oldest cheesemonger - though we absolutely guarantee you won't be able to spare enough to craft a cheese sculpture of your own.
Whilst the history of cheese probably dates all the way back to Prehistory, it became incredibly widespread during the Middle Ages - popular cheeses which are still enjoyed today such as Cheddar, Parmesan, and Gruyère were all developed during this time. Cheesemaking became an essential way of preserving milk, which was particularly necessary during the hot summer months when the majority of people didn’t have access to methods of refrigeration. This illumination is taken from the Medieval Tacuinum sanitatis manuscript, an Arab treatise on hygiene and health which shows the production of soft cheese, known in Latin as Caseus recens. The Tacuinum sanitatis has several illustrations of the cheesemaking process, but we’re extra fond of this one because of the extra-cute inclusion of a dog licking up the excess buttermilk.
No-one does a still life quite like the Dutch Masters - in fact images of mouthwatering smorgasbords were so characteristic of the Netherlands art that we even take our name for the genre from the Durch word stilleven, which was adopted into English sometime in the seventeenth century. The Dutch even have an entirely cheese-heavy still life genre called ontbijtje, which translates as ‘breakfast piece’, of which this delectable van Dyck is one such example. Mornings might feel a little more tolerable with this spread as opposed to the usual slice of toast and bowl of cornflakes.
Making a tongue-in-cheek nod to arguably his most famous piece of art The Treachery of Images (also known as This Is Not a Pipe), René Magritte chose here to install a painting of a very oozy slice of Brie under a glass cloche. In doing so, Magritte continued to use art as a meta-medium for subverting traditional ideas about visual and linguistic representation, and the boundary between art and reality, words and image.
Pop Artist Roy Lichtenstein used familiar shapes and compositions from everyday visual culture to make playful commentary on contemporary life, and in 1977 he entered a period of creating work inspired by the Surrealists. Though Lichetenstein’s rigid composition and primary colour palette might be a long way away from drippy clocks of The Persistence of Memory (which, art urban legend supposes was in fact inspired by a particularly decadent Camembert), there’s a clear parallel with Son of Man - though we have to say this holey swiss seems a step up from Magritte’s iconic apple. Swiss cheese became a recurrent motif in Lichentenstein’s work from then on, though Cheese Head remains the most recognisable instance. When asked later for the meaning behind the piece, he stated it was in fact an intended criticism of the neoliberal President Reagan, who in his own let-them-eat-cake moment suggested that the poor should be fed with surplus cheese.
Rounding up our list is a more left-field suggestion, and one in which the canvas has been totally abandoned and cheese itself becomes the medium as well as the message. Italian artist and illustrator Gabriel Pino (@pinocoteca) created an entire series using edible pigments to paint his artwork directly onto wheels of cheese, creating something that very literally looks far too good to eat. In fact, Instagram has an entire community of cheese-artists: French art duo Ich and Kar (@ichetkar) also created a series of architectural models carved from gargantuan blocks of cheese, and the husband and wife team of classically trained sculptors Jim Victor and Marie Pelton (@jvmp_foodsculpt) though beginning with more traditional materials like stone and wood now work exclusively in cheese and butter.
For any London based readers looking for some beautiful art-cheese combinations of their own, we recommend trying out Paxton and Whitfield - at less than a five minute walk from the Royal Academy you can catch the Milton Avery exhibition and then refuel with something delicious from Britain's oldest cheesemonger - though we absolutely guarantee you won't be able to spare enough to craft a cheese sculpture of your own.
Whilst the history of cheese probably dates all the way back to Prehistory, it became incredibly widespread during the Middle Ages - popular cheeses which are still enjoyed today such as Cheddar, Parmesan, and Gruyère were all developed during this time. Cheesemaking became an essential way of preserving milk, which was particularly necessary during the hot summer months when the majority of people didn’t have access to methods of refrigeration. This illumination is taken from the Medieval Tacuinum sanitatis manuscript, an Arab treatise on hygiene and health which shows the production of soft cheese, known in Latin as Caseus recens. The Tacuinum sanitatis has several illustrations of the cheesemaking process, but we’re extra fond of this one because of the extra-cute inclusion of a dog licking up the excess buttermilk.
No-one does a still life quite like the Dutch Masters - in fact images of mouthwatering smorgasbords were so characteristic of the Netherlands art that we even take our name for the genre from the Durch word stilleven, which was adopted into English sometime in the seventeenth century. The Dutch even have an entirely cheese-heavy still life genre called ontbijtje, which translates as ‘breakfast piece’, of which this delectable van Dyck is one such example. Mornings might feel a little more tolerable with this spread as opposed to the usual slice of toast and bowl of cornflakes.
Making a tongue-in-cheek nod to arguably his most famous piece of art The Treachery of Images (also known as This Is Not a Pipe), René Magritte chose here to install a painting of a very oozy slice of Brie under a glass cloche. In doing so, Magritte continued to use art as a meta-medium for subverting traditional ideas about visual and linguistic representation, and the boundary between art and reality, words and image.
Pop Artist Roy Lichtenstein used familiar shapes and compositions from everyday visual culture to make playful commentary on contemporary life, and in 1977 he entered a period of creating work inspired by the Surrealists. Though Lichetenstein’s rigid composition and primary colour palette might be a long way away from drippy clocks of The Persistence of Memory (which, art urban legend supposes was in fact inspired by a particularly decadent Camembert), there’s a clear parallel with Son of Man - though we have to say this holey swiss seems a step up from Magritte’s iconic apple. Swiss cheese became a recurrent motif in Lichentenstein’s work from then on, though Cheese Head remains the most recognisable instance. When asked later for the meaning behind the piece, he stated it was in fact an intended criticism of the neoliberal President Reagan, who in his own let-them-eat-cake moment suggested that the poor should be fed with surplus cheese.
Rounding up our list is a more left-field suggestion, and one in which the canvas has been totally abandoned and cheese itself becomes the medium as well as the message. Italian artist and illustrator Gabriel Pino (@pinocoteca) created an entire series using edible pigments to paint his artwork directly onto wheels of cheese, creating something that very literally looks far too good to eat. In fact, Instagram has an entire community of cheese-artists: French art duo Ich and Kar (@ichetkar) also created a series of architectural models carved from gargantuan blocks of cheese, and the husband and wife team of classically trained sculptors Jim Victor and Marie Pelton (@jvmp_foodsculpt) though beginning with more traditional materials like stone and wood now work exclusively in cheese and butter.
For any London based readers looking for some beautiful art-cheese combinations of their own, we recommend trying out Paxton and Whitfield - at less than a five minute walk from the Royal Academy you can catch the Milton Avery exhibition and then refuel with something delicious from Britain's oldest cheesemonger - though we absolutely guarantee you won't be able to spare enough to craft a cheese sculpture of your own.
Whilst the history of cheese probably dates all the way back to Prehistory, it became incredibly widespread during the Middle Ages - popular cheeses which are still enjoyed today such as Cheddar, Parmesan, and Gruyère were all developed during this time. Cheesemaking became an essential way of preserving milk, which was particularly necessary during the hot summer months when the majority of people didn’t have access to methods of refrigeration. This illumination is taken from the Medieval Tacuinum sanitatis manuscript, an Arab treatise on hygiene and health which shows the production of soft cheese, known in Latin as Caseus recens. The Tacuinum sanitatis has several illustrations of the cheesemaking process, but we’re extra fond of this one because of the extra-cute inclusion of a dog licking up the excess buttermilk.
No-one does a still life quite like the Dutch Masters - in fact images of mouthwatering smorgasbords were so characteristic of the Netherlands art that we even take our name for the genre from the Durch word stilleven, which was adopted into English sometime in the seventeenth century. The Dutch even have an entirely cheese-heavy still life genre called ontbijtje, which translates as ‘breakfast piece’, of which this delectable van Dyck is one such example. Mornings might feel a little more tolerable with this spread as opposed to the usual slice of toast and bowl of cornflakes.
Making a tongue-in-cheek nod to arguably his most famous piece of art The Treachery of Images (also known as This Is Not a Pipe), René Magritte chose here to install a painting of a very oozy slice of Brie under a glass cloche. In doing so, Magritte continued to use art as a meta-medium for subverting traditional ideas about visual and linguistic representation, and the boundary between art and reality, words and image.
Pop Artist Roy Lichtenstein used familiar shapes and compositions from everyday visual culture to make playful commentary on contemporary life, and in 1977 he entered a period of creating work inspired by the Surrealists. Though Lichetenstein’s rigid composition and primary colour palette might be a long way away from drippy clocks of The Persistence of Memory (which, art urban legend supposes was in fact inspired by a particularly decadent Camembert), there’s a clear parallel with Son of Man - though we have to say this holey swiss seems a step up from Magritte’s iconic apple. Swiss cheese became a recurrent motif in Lichentenstein’s work from then on, though Cheese Head remains the most recognisable instance. When asked later for the meaning behind the piece, he stated it was in fact an intended criticism of the neoliberal President Reagan, who in his own let-them-eat-cake moment suggested that the poor should be fed with surplus cheese.
Rounding up our list is a more left-field suggestion, and one in which the canvas has been totally abandoned and cheese itself becomes the medium as well as the message. Italian artist and illustrator Gabriel Pino (@pinocoteca) created an entire series using edible pigments to paint his artwork directly onto wheels of cheese, creating something that very literally looks far too good to eat. In fact, Instagram has an entire community of cheese-artists: French art duo Ich and Kar (@ichetkar) also created a series of architectural models carved from gargantuan blocks of cheese, and the husband and wife team of classically trained sculptors Jim Victor and Marie Pelton (@jvmp_foodsculpt) though beginning with more traditional materials like stone and wood now work exclusively in cheese and butter.
For any London based readers looking for some beautiful art-cheese combinations of their own, we recommend trying out Paxton and Whitfield - at less than a five minute walk from the Royal Academy you can catch the Milton Avery exhibition and then refuel with something delicious from Britain's oldest cheesemonger - though we absolutely guarantee you won't be able to spare enough to craft a cheese sculpture of your own.
Whilst the history of cheese probably dates all the way back to Prehistory, it became incredibly widespread during the Middle Ages - popular cheeses which are still enjoyed today such as Cheddar, Parmesan, and Gruyère were all developed during this time. Cheesemaking became an essential way of preserving milk, which was particularly necessary during the hot summer months when the majority of people didn’t have access to methods of refrigeration. This illumination is taken from the Medieval Tacuinum sanitatis manuscript, an Arab treatise on hygiene and health which shows the production of soft cheese, known in Latin as Caseus recens. The Tacuinum sanitatis has several illustrations of the cheesemaking process, but we’re extra fond of this one because of the extra-cute inclusion of a dog licking up the excess buttermilk.
No-one does a still life quite like the Dutch Masters - in fact images of mouthwatering smorgasbords were so characteristic of the Netherlands art that we even take our name for the genre from the Durch word stilleven, which was adopted into English sometime in the seventeenth century. The Dutch even have an entirely cheese-heavy still life genre called ontbijtje, which translates as ‘breakfast piece’, of which this delectable van Dyck is one such example. Mornings might feel a little more tolerable with this spread as opposed to the usual slice of toast and bowl of cornflakes.
Making a tongue-in-cheek nod to arguably his most famous piece of art The Treachery of Images (also known as This Is Not a Pipe), René Magritte chose here to install a painting of a very oozy slice of Brie under a glass cloche. In doing so, Magritte continued to use art as a meta-medium for subverting traditional ideas about visual and linguistic representation, and the boundary between art and reality, words and image.
Pop Artist Roy Lichtenstein used familiar shapes and compositions from everyday visual culture to make playful commentary on contemporary life, and in 1977 he entered a period of creating work inspired by the Surrealists. Though Lichetenstein’s rigid composition and primary colour palette might be a long way away from drippy clocks of The Persistence of Memory (which, art urban legend supposes was in fact inspired by a particularly decadent Camembert), there’s a clear parallel with Son of Man - though we have to say this holey swiss seems a step up from Magritte’s iconic apple. Swiss cheese became a recurrent motif in Lichentenstein’s work from then on, though Cheese Head remains the most recognisable instance. When asked later for the meaning behind the piece, he stated it was in fact an intended criticism of the neoliberal President Reagan, who in his own let-them-eat-cake moment suggested that the poor should be fed with surplus cheese.
Rounding up our list is a more left-field suggestion, and one in which the canvas has been totally abandoned and cheese itself becomes the medium as well as the message. Italian artist and illustrator Gabriel Pino (@pinocoteca) created an entire series using edible pigments to paint his artwork directly onto wheels of cheese, creating something that very literally looks far too good to eat. In fact, Instagram has an entire community of cheese-artists: French art duo Ich and Kar (@ichetkar) also created a series of architectural models carved from gargantuan blocks of cheese, and the husband and wife team of classically trained sculptors Jim Victor and Marie Pelton (@jvmp_foodsculpt) though beginning with more traditional materials like stone and wood now work exclusively in cheese and butter.
For any London based readers looking for some beautiful art-cheese combinations of their own, we recommend trying out Paxton and Whitfield - at less than a five minute walk from the Royal Academy you can catch the Milton Avery exhibition and then refuel with something delicious from Britain's oldest cheesemonger - though we absolutely guarantee you won't be able to spare enough to craft a cheese sculpture of your own.
Whilst the history of cheese probably dates all the way back to Prehistory, it became incredibly widespread during the Middle Ages - popular cheeses which are still enjoyed today such as Cheddar, Parmesan, and Gruyère were all developed during this time. Cheesemaking became an essential way of preserving milk, which was particularly necessary during the hot summer months when the majority of people didn’t have access to methods of refrigeration. This illumination is taken from the Medieval Tacuinum sanitatis manuscript, an Arab treatise on hygiene and health which shows the production of soft cheese, known in Latin as Caseus recens. The Tacuinum sanitatis has several illustrations of the cheesemaking process, but we’re extra fond of this one because of the extra-cute inclusion of a dog licking up the excess buttermilk.
No-one does a still life quite like the Dutch Masters - in fact images of mouthwatering smorgasbords were so characteristic of the Netherlands art that we even take our name for the genre from the Durch word stilleven, which was adopted into English sometime in the seventeenth century. The Dutch even have an entirely cheese-heavy still life genre called ontbijtje, which translates as ‘breakfast piece’, of which this delectable van Dyck is one such example. Mornings might feel a little more tolerable with this spread as opposed to the usual slice of toast and bowl of cornflakes.
Making a tongue-in-cheek nod to arguably his most famous piece of art The Treachery of Images (also known as This Is Not a Pipe), René Magritte chose here to install a painting of a very oozy slice of Brie under a glass cloche. In doing so, Magritte continued to use art as a meta-medium for subverting traditional ideas about visual and linguistic representation, and the boundary between art and reality, words and image.
Pop Artist Roy Lichtenstein used familiar shapes and compositions from everyday visual culture to make playful commentary on contemporary life, and in 1977 he entered a period of creating work inspired by the Surrealists. Though Lichetenstein’s rigid composition and primary colour palette might be a long way away from drippy clocks of The Persistence of Memory (which, art urban legend supposes was in fact inspired by a particularly decadent Camembert), there’s a clear parallel with Son of Man - though we have to say this holey swiss seems a step up from Magritte’s iconic apple. Swiss cheese became a recurrent motif in Lichentenstein’s work from then on, though Cheese Head remains the most recognisable instance. When asked later for the meaning behind the piece, he stated it was in fact an intended criticism of the neoliberal President Reagan, who in his own let-them-eat-cake moment suggested that the poor should be fed with surplus cheese.
Rounding up our list is a more left-field suggestion, and one in which the canvas has been totally abandoned and cheese itself becomes the medium as well as the message. Italian artist and illustrator Gabriel Pino (@pinocoteca) created an entire series using edible pigments to paint his artwork directly onto wheels of cheese, creating something that very literally looks far too good to eat. In fact, Instagram has an entire community of cheese-artists: French art duo Ich and Kar (@ichetkar) also created a series of architectural models carved from gargantuan blocks of cheese, and the husband and wife team of classically trained sculptors Jim Victor and Marie Pelton (@jvmp_foodsculpt) though beginning with more traditional materials like stone and wood now work exclusively in cheese and butter.
For any London based readers looking for some beautiful art-cheese combinations of their own, we recommend trying out Paxton and Whitfield - at less than a five minute walk from the Royal Academy you can catch the Milton Avery exhibition and then refuel with something delicious from Britain's oldest cheesemonger - though we absolutely guarantee you won't be able to spare enough to craft a cheese sculpture of your own.
Whilst the history of cheese probably dates all the way back to Prehistory, it became incredibly widespread during the Middle Ages - popular cheeses which are still enjoyed today such as Cheddar, Parmesan, and Gruyère were all developed during this time. Cheesemaking became an essential way of preserving milk, which was particularly necessary during the hot summer months when the majority of people didn’t have access to methods of refrigeration. This illumination is taken from the Medieval Tacuinum sanitatis manuscript, an Arab treatise on hygiene and health which shows the production of soft cheese, known in Latin as Caseus recens. The Tacuinum sanitatis has several illustrations of the cheesemaking process, but we’re extra fond of this one because of the extra-cute inclusion of a dog licking up the excess buttermilk.
No-one does a still life quite like the Dutch Masters - in fact images of mouthwatering smorgasbords were so characteristic of the Netherlands art that we even take our name for the genre from the Durch word stilleven, which was adopted into English sometime in the seventeenth century. The Dutch even have an entirely cheese-heavy still life genre called ontbijtje, which translates as ‘breakfast piece’, of which this delectable van Dyck is one such example. Mornings might feel a little more tolerable with this spread as opposed to the usual slice of toast and bowl of cornflakes.
Making a tongue-in-cheek nod to arguably his most famous piece of art The Treachery of Images (also known as This Is Not a Pipe), René Magritte chose here to install a painting of a very oozy slice of Brie under a glass cloche. In doing so, Magritte continued to use art as a meta-medium for subverting traditional ideas about visual and linguistic representation, and the boundary between art and reality, words and image.
Pop Artist Roy Lichtenstein used familiar shapes and compositions from everyday visual culture to make playful commentary on contemporary life, and in 1977 he entered a period of creating work inspired by the Surrealists. Though Lichetenstein’s rigid composition and primary colour palette might be a long way away from drippy clocks of The Persistence of Memory (which, art urban legend supposes was in fact inspired by a particularly decadent Camembert), there’s a clear parallel with Son of Man - though we have to say this holey swiss seems a step up from Magritte’s iconic apple. Swiss cheese became a recurrent motif in Lichentenstein’s work from then on, though Cheese Head remains the most recognisable instance. When asked later for the meaning behind the piece, he stated it was in fact an intended criticism of the neoliberal President Reagan, who in his own let-them-eat-cake moment suggested that the poor should be fed with surplus cheese.
Rounding up our list is a more left-field suggestion, and one in which the canvas has been totally abandoned and cheese itself becomes the medium as well as the message. Italian artist and illustrator Gabriel Pino (@pinocoteca) created an entire series using edible pigments to paint his artwork directly onto wheels of cheese, creating something that very literally looks far too good to eat. In fact, Instagram has an entire community of cheese-artists: French art duo Ich and Kar (@ichetkar) also created a series of architectural models carved from gargantuan blocks of cheese, and the husband and wife team of classically trained sculptors Jim Victor and Marie Pelton (@jvmp_foodsculpt) though beginning with more traditional materials like stone and wood now work exclusively in cheese and butter.
For any London based readers looking for some beautiful art-cheese combinations of their own, we recommend trying out Paxton and Whitfield - at less than a five minute walk from the Royal Academy you can catch the Milton Avery exhibition and then refuel with something delicious from Britain's oldest cheesemonger - though we absolutely guarantee you won't be able to spare enough to craft a cheese sculpture of your own.
Whilst the history of cheese probably dates all the way back to Prehistory, it became incredibly widespread during the Middle Ages - popular cheeses which are still enjoyed today such as Cheddar, Parmesan, and Gruyère were all developed during this time. Cheesemaking became an essential way of preserving milk, which was particularly necessary during the hot summer months when the majority of people didn’t have access to methods of refrigeration. This illumination is taken from the Medieval Tacuinum sanitatis manuscript, an Arab treatise on hygiene and health which shows the production of soft cheese, known in Latin as Caseus recens. The Tacuinum sanitatis has several illustrations of the cheesemaking process, but we’re extra fond of this one because of the extra-cute inclusion of a dog licking up the excess buttermilk.
No-one does a still life quite like the Dutch Masters - in fact images of mouthwatering smorgasbords were so characteristic of the Netherlands art that we even take our name for the genre from the Durch word stilleven, which was adopted into English sometime in the seventeenth century. The Dutch even have an entirely cheese-heavy still life genre called ontbijtje, which translates as ‘breakfast piece’, of which this delectable van Dyck is one such example. Mornings might feel a little more tolerable with this spread as opposed to the usual slice of toast and bowl of cornflakes.
Making a tongue-in-cheek nod to arguably his most famous piece of art The Treachery of Images (also known as This Is Not a Pipe), René Magritte chose here to install a painting of a very oozy slice of Brie under a glass cloche. In doing so, Magritte continued to use art as a meta-medium for subverting traditional ideas about visual and linguistic representation, and the boundary between art and reality, words and image.
Pop Artist Roy Lichtenstein used familiar shapes and compositions from everyday visual culture to make playful commentary on contemporary life, and in 1977 he entered a period of creating work inspired by the Surrealists. Though Lichetenstein’s rigid composition and primary colour palette might be a long way away from drippy clocks of The Persistence of Memory (which, art urban legend supposes was in fact inspired by a particularly decadent Camembert), there’s a clear parallel with Son of Man - though we have to say this holey swiss seems a step up from Magritte’s iconic apple. Swiss cheese became a recurrent motif in Lichentenstein’s work from then on, though Cheese Head remains the most recognisable instance. When asked later for the meaning behind the piece, he stated it was in fact an intended criticism of the neoliberal President Reagan, who in his own let-them-eat-cake moment suggested that the poor should be fed with surplus cheese.
Rounding up our list is a more left-field suggestion, and one in which the canvas has been totally abandoned and cheese itself becomes the medium as well as the message. Italian artist and illustrator Gabriel Pino (@pinocoteca) created an entire series using edible pigments to paint his artwork directly onto wheels of cheese, creating something that very literally looks far too good to eat. In fact, Instagram has an entire community of cheese-artists: French art duo Ich and Kar (@ichetkar) also created a series of architectural models carved from gargantuan blocks of cheese, and the husband and wife team of classically trained sculptors Jim Victor and Marie Pelton (@jvmp_foodsculpt) though beginning with more traditional materials like stone and wood now work exclusively in cheese and butter.
For any London based readers looking for some beautiful art-cheese combinations of their own, we recommend trying out Paxton and Whitfield - at less than a five minute walk from the Royal Academy you can catch the Milton Avery exhibition and then refuel with something delicious from Britain's oldest cheesemonger - though we absolutely guarantee you won't be able to spare enough to craft a cheese sculpture of your own.
