Still Life: Fish

My name is Feely T. Heart, and I will be your guide today through one of our paintings: Still Life: Fish, by the American artist William Merritt Chase. nn This striking work, painted sometime between 1900 and 1908, draws your attention immediately to the way Chase captures the textures and reflective surfaces of the fish, the gleam of the pewter, and the subtle variations in the green peppers. Notice how he uses a dark background to make the objects on the table stand out even more. nn Chase was a master of light and shadow, and you can see that mastery on full display in this painting. The light source is undefined, which focuses our attention on the interplay of light and shadow on the fish and the objects around them. This technique creates a sense of depth and volume, making the fish and objects feel almost tangible. nn Still Life: Fish is a wonderful example of Chase's style, which combined the realism of the Dutch Masters with the loose brushwork and emphasis on light characteristic of Impressionism. He believed in painting directly from life, and this painting is no exception. You can almost feel the presence of the artist in the room, carefully observing his subject and translating it onto canvas. nn The Metropolitan Museum of Art is proud to have this beautiful and evocative painting in our collection. We hope you enjoyed spending time with it today.