SHARING WITH ME

Yesterday’s Modigliani had been a real eye opener. So what would the exhibition with Soutine’s work bring today. Many of us relate to Soutine through his paintings of carcass. He once horrified his neighbours by keeping an animal carcass in his studio so that he could paint it (Carcass of Beef). The stench drove them to send for the police, whom Soutine promptly lectured on the relative importance of art over hygiene. There's a story too  that Marc Chagall saw the blood from the carcass leak out onto the corridor outside Soutine's room, and rushed out screaming, "Someone has killed Soutine". Soutine painted 10 works in this series, which have since become his most well-known. His carcass paintings were inspired by Rembrandt's still life. Another story I learnt was he was a good friend of Modigliani - so it seemed right to visit this exhibition today.  Chaïm Soutine was Russian-French painter of Jewish origin(1893-1943) . He was also was one of the leading paint