Spanish bodegón paintings encapsulate this atmosphere of ritualized comfort by elevating the beauty of ordinary objects.
In Spanish, the term “bodega” means “wine cellar,” “pantry,” or “tavern.” Its derivative, “bodegón,” is a term used in Spanish art to describe a still life that portrays pantry artifacts, often laid out on a plain slab in a tavern environment. The term also connotes mundane, ordinary, or commonplace objects, which the painter elevates through sensitivity and technical mastery.
A Velázquez Bodegón
In “The Waterseller of Seville,” Velázquez elevates an everyday scene to one of silent contemplation. The canvas collapses the boundary between genre and bodegón compositions, creating a fusion of the two painting types that places the drama of a scene from daily life against the atmosphere of a tavern.
Three figures are present in the painting, although the third is barely discernible, fading into the shadowy brown of the background. The figures don’t make eye contact with each other, although the man in the shadows seems to stare directly out at the viewer. Each of the characters grasps a drinking vessel, as if the vessels are conduits through which the figures’ relationships are expressed.
It feels as though the three figures are amid a ritual, eternalized in a moment of solemn exchange. Although the composition captures but a moment of a mundane marketplace exchange, Velázquez establishes an atmosphere of heightened significance, transforming the quotidian into the ceremonial.
The water seller wears a simple outfit composed of a heavy ochre shift layered over a white shirt. He is portrayed in profile, his complexion harmonizing with the warm tones of his tunic. Velázquez expertly conveys a sense of toil through the wrinkled, battered appearance of his face. His brow furrowed and gaze slightly downcast, the water seller silently passes a translucent glass with fresh water to the boy, who accepts it without acknowledgement. A fig is in the glass, which is meant to make the water taste purer, a custom still honored in Seville, Spain, today.
The painting’s palette is limited. There is the white of the water seller’s undershirt and the boy’s collar, the dark brown of the shadows, the burnt orange of the water seller’s tunic and skin, and the cream and eggshell tones of the ceramic vessels and the boy’s skin. Velázquez uses the restriction of these four color groups to his advantage. The simplicity of his palette heightens the seriousness and psychological intensity of his painting, minimizes noise and distraction, and highlights other aspects of the canvas, such as the gestures, composition, textures, and values.
Juan van der Harmen’s Bodegón
In Juan van der Harmen’s “Still Life With Sweets and Pottery,” fruits, bread, and baked goods are displayed atop three taupe stone ledges. The still life, lit from the upper left corner, is set against a black backdrop, allowing the objects in the foreground to stand out with even more clarity.
The bottommost ledge, that extends out from the composition’s left side, features three clay vessels of varying shades of burnt orange and rust red. A small, circular wooden box perches with its lid leaning against it, next to a long, thin pastry coiled upon itself like a pretzel. The pewter platter has many of those curled pieces of dough, along with a number of powdered doughnuts and sugared figs.
Art historians have proposed that this still life was one of a larger series devoted to the four seasons. If this were the case, that would explain the lack of seasonal vegetables and fruits, and the choice to instead display confections available in Madrid’s cold winter. The lid of the marzipan box suggests that someone had been present not long before, and the platter of sugary delights similarly convey the impression that someone will soon return to them.
The third ledge, which emerges from the right side of the painting, displays two of the circular wooden boxes, their lids on and stacked atop each other. A transparent glass jar containing fruits that resemble maraschino cherries is placed on the topmost box. Next to this pyramid of containers is another glass jar, this one with an opaque burnt sienna substance—perhaps preserves—in it. In the shadows behind it stands a translucent carafe, its neck comprised of spheres of blown glass. To the left of the preserves are a translucent glass mug with dainty green handles and a large, hollow terracotta vessel. The copper-red vessel has floral motifs decorating the circumference of its hollow center, a flared base, and a fountain-like spout. This earthenware vessel is called a “Loch” and is of German origin.
Tomás Yepes’ Symmetry
In Tomás Yepes’s painting “Still Life,” a roast fowl rests within a bronze pan. To its right, a golden, dragon-shaped pie rests at the wooden table’s edge, while above it is a pewter and bronze platter leaning against the wall. At the top right and bottom left corners, flowering lemon and orange branches frame the composition, their arrangements adding an organic contrast to the precise geometric shapes of the containers on the ledge.
A cylindrical wicker basket with its lid propped open contains rolls of bread and a table runner, its white fringes glistening in the light. Equally bright are the shining reflections on the pewter platter and bronze pan. Known for his meticulously symmetrical still life and Valencian vase paintings, Yepes relinquishes his usual symmetry for an organic sprawl in this arrangement . The result is that the human presence in the painting is strong; the table feels recently abandoned and soon to be returned to. In this way, although the painting does not feature a human figure, it conveys that presence through absence, with details suggesting the meal is about to be consumed.
