Desire and Abundance: American Culture and the Still Life

December 13, 2025–July 5, 2026

Forman Gallery

Plan Your Visit
An oil painting of a table set with a platter and wicker basket of peaches and a watermelon that's been cut open.
John Francis, Still Life with Fruits, 1865, oil on canvas. Marion Stratton Gould Fund, 1971.7

American values take shape in the objects we make, desire, cherish, and discard. A table laden with ripe fruit, a meal served up at a luncheonette, the inside of a medicine cabinet—ordinary materials around us chronicle our lives. The still life, a genre of art that dates back to the ancient world, captures those objects of everyday life while often conveying deeper meanings and hidden messages.

As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Desire and Abundance features a selection from MAG’s collection of American still lifes, spanning from the 1800s to the present. Taken together, these artworks present an array of items that underscore shifting tastes in American art, commerce, and daily life.

Highlights

A relief sculpture in pastel colors depicting the inside of a medicine cabinet that contains several pill bottles, a pair of scissors, and an apple core.
Genesis Belanger, Care-taken, 2025, porcelain, plywood, wood veneer, linoleum. Mabel Fenner Lyon Fund, 2025.16 © Genesis Belanger
A still life of an assortment of objects associated with patriotism in the United States, including a shiny gold eagle statue, shiny plastic statues of 18th century soldiers, and red, white, and blue streamers.
Audrey Flack, Fourth of July Still Life, 1975, color serigraph, laminated/die cut. Gift of Lorillard, New York, 1975.120.3 © Estate of Audrey Flack