Vital Vittles—12 Masterful Uses of Food in Art

Nothing in life is more fundamental than food. We eat it, we savor it—we depend on it for sustenance and pleasure. We also sometimes put it to good use in art.
Below are 12 works that engage food as a subject, a medium, or otherwise a notion worth appreciating.
Édoard Manet, Oysters, 1862.
Édouard Manet, Oysters (1862)Painted by Édouard Manet and given as a gift to his wife, Oysters gets better the closer you look—which you can do via a helpful “zoom”