Crab

This dramatic 2023 painting is part of a series in which I chose animals from the Leiden fish market as subjects. Of all the works in the series, the crab turned out to be the most theatrical. After buying it at the market, I took a few reference photos — after which the crab met its culinary fate, completing a cycle of life, art, and consumption typical of this type of still life. Truthfully, there wasn’t much meat. The bisque I made from the shell was the best part.

Because of the intense chiaroscuro lighting, this piece belongs more with my later, contemplative works like the chrysanthemums and the onion bloom. The play of light transforms the crab from a simple market product into a near-sculptural object. The warm, red-orange hues of the shell glow against the dark background, while the shadows emphasize the complex anatomy of claws and legs.

Acrylic paint allowed me to render both the smooth shell and the rougher textures of the legs in great detail. There’s something melancholic in this depiction — the crab suspended in a moment between life and death, nature and culture. The chiaroscuro gives it a timeless quality, as if it could be a 17th-century still life, yet it’s painted with the immediacy and emotion of modern materials.