When Life Gives You Lemons… Paint Them! Famous Lemons in Art

Because we love lemons, we wanted to pay tribute to them through the works of some of the great masters of art history. Because you know, if life gives you lemons… paint them!

The Renaissance Lemon

The genius of Italian painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo and his teste composte (composite heads) is unparalleled. In a work of great symbolism, he recreates the four seasons of the year by creating portraits composed of seasonal plants and fruits.

In the case of winter, the portrait shows an old man, with rough and wrinkled skin represented through the old tree trunk. What gives a touch of color and dynamism to the somewhat sad composition is… of course, our hero, the lemon! Together with the orange, it was the only fruit that could also be found in Italy in the cold and barren winter.

The Baroque Lemon

And we come to the Golden century of Dutch painting! While we can say that there was a tulip mania in Holland, it is reasonable to say that there was also a lemon mania! With the advent of the acidic and colorful fruit in the 17th century, they became indispensable ingredients for still lifes.

With the emergence of the merchant class in Holland and the expansion of trade, lemons became a symbol of wealth, luxury, exoticism, and new imported species. In addition to the richness it embodied, in the Baroque, the lemon acquired a wide variety of symbols. While they could signify virtue and fidelity, the bitter and acidic taste of the yellow fruit referred to the deception and disappointment produced by external beauty as well as the pain and bitterness of death.

Whatever their meaning, they were an excellent painting challenge and exercise for artists! This is the case of Willem Claesz, who proudly demonstrates his skill. The strong yellow of the fruit contrasts with the black of the tablecloth, the white of the napkin, and the gray of the plates and glassware. In addition, the painter shows his worth by reflecting all the textures of the lemon: half-peeled with its skin curled, the whitish part, and the pulp.

The Single Lemon

Yes, the lemon. The one and only. Édouard Manet was a master. And he needed nothing more than a lemon, one and only, to prove it. While he did it before with an asparagus, now it is the turn of the citrus fruit.

Although Manet is regarded as the father of Impressionism, in this work he displays a quite realistic lemon. With a sober and simple composition, he manages to create an immense visual impact. The powerful yellow contrasts with the blackness of the background and the lights and shadows that fall on the fruit highlight its rough texture. Manet plays with color, volume, and shadows achieving a simple but exquisite result.

The Impressionist Lemons

Its attractive color and refreshing aroma made the lemon a must-have of Impressionism. In one of his numerous trips, in 1884 the Impressionist icon Claude Monet arrived in Bordighera, on the Italian Riviera. There he was fascinated by the lemons and lemon trees of the Mediterranean country.

In Under the Lemon Trees, Monet recreates the sunset in a lemon grove, with the bluish twilight contrasting with the playful yellow of the lemons. From the same period comes the sketch painting Branch of Lemons. It is an unusual still life, almost an encyclopedic illustration. Here we clearly see the freer, more intense and daring brushstrokes. Monet returns to the same color palette as in the case of the orchard with the bluish and violet tones contrasting with the yellow.

The Post-Impressionist Lemon

In the Post-Impressionist world, Vincent van Gogh could not escape the charms of the attractive yellow either.

True to his unique and evocative style of curved, undulating lines, Van Gogh created a fruit basket with citrus: oranges and lemons. The composition gains strength through the contrasting colors, with the primary color of lemon’s yellow contrasting with the primary blue of the gloves. We can almost feel the scent!

The Cubist Lemon

Honestly, this is the perfect example that no style or era has escaped the charm of the lemon. Yes, friends, here we have the Cubist lemon. The Cubist painter Georges Braque created a still life in which the undisputed protagonist is the lemon. Thus, the fruit does not escape the Cubist perspective that seems to analyze all of its angles. The composition has a warm touch, although the yellow of the lemon stands out against the earthy and brown colors.

Pop Art Lemon

Moving towards contemporary times, the lemon is the star of the work by the famous Pop Art painter Roy Lichtenstein. Its bright and unique color makes it the perfect subject for a Pop Art composition. Lichtenstein creates a strong contrast by putting the primary colors yellow and blue in front of each other, juxtaposing them with white. Additionally, he plays with the viewer by multiplying the glass and the fruit in a mirror.

We hope that after this selection you will love lemons as much as we do! And remember, when life gives you lemons… paint them and make art!