In Still Life With Brioche, c. 1890, Victoria Dubourg Fantin-Latour captures the buttery crust of a signature pastry. Known for her tablescapes, she met her artist husband Henri when both were copying the same painting at the Louvre. Dixon Gallery and Gardens / First Art MuseumFrance has long derived a portion of its national pride from its culinary sophistication, but during the late 19th centurya time of war and social upheaval, as well as the cultural flowering of the Belle poquethe issue of food could sometimes be fraught. Aristocrats feasted while peasants toiled and poor Parisians starved, and new delicacies like the banana debuted against a backdrop of imperialist adventures. To artists like Claude Monet and Paul Gauguin, all of it was also rich fodder for a new approach to painting, showcased in the play of light over a silver pitcher or the slimy floors of a bustling fish market.This is as much a social history as it is the story of food, says Mark Scala, chief curator at the Frist Art Museum in Nashville, which in late January will host the traveling exhibition Farm to Table, featuring some 50 Impressionist canvases and sculptures that depict markets and gardens, farmers and gastronomes, abundance and penury. Food, that universal human obsession, connects people from all walks of life, Scala notes, making it a portal through which artists and museumgoers can explore not only human appetites but also darker questions of class, conflict and conquest. Charles-mile Jacque, The Shepherd and his Flock, 1880, Oil on canvas Chrysler Museum of Art / Frist Art Museum Victor Gabriel Gilbert, Fish Market at Les Halles, 1881, Oil on canvas Chrysler Museum of Art / Frist Art Museum Camille Pissarro, The Gardener - Old Peasant with Cabbage, 188395. National Gallery of Art / Frist Art Museum Eugne Alexis Girardet, Dinner, El Kantara, Algeria, Oil on wood Private Collection / Frist Art MuseumSubscribe to Smithsonian magazine now for just $19.99This article is a selection from the January/February 2025 issue of Smithsonian magazineGet the latest Travel & Culture stories in your inbox.Filed Under: Art, Art History, Food, France, Impressionism