The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Still Life with Rayfish

1923

Chaïm Soutine

(Russian, 1893–1943)
Russia (worked in France), 20th century
oil on canvas
Framed: 111.8 x 94.3 x 11.8 cm (44 x 37 1/8 x 4 5/8 in.); Unframed: 80.5 x 64.5 cm (31 11/16 x 25 3/8 in.)
Gift of the Hanna Fund 1951.357
Location: 223 20th Century Avant-Garde

Description

The mutilated ray fish in this painting is strung across the top of the canvas, as if tortured or crucified, as its internal organs spill forth. The fish seems to express human anguish, transforming it into a powerful metaphor for suffering. Below the fish is a kettle that seems to twist away from the fish. Chaïm Soutine frequently depicted animal carcasses in his paintings, highlighting their vulnerability and the violence of their deaths. Such paintings may allude to his own despair, from his youth as the 10th of 11 children of parents in poverty in a small Orthodox Jewish community in what is now Belarus, to his early years in Paris as a struggling artist.
  • By 1927-1928
    (Paul Guillaume [1891-1953], Paris, probably sold to Jacques Doucet
    1928-1929
    Jacques Doucet [1853-1929], Paris, presumably by inheritance to his wife Jeanne Roger Doucet
    Until 1951
    (Cesar de Hauke, New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1951-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 One of Soutine’s dealers, Guillaume handled much of the artist’s output in the 1920s.  Guillaume also had his own collection, most of which was acquired by the French state in the 1960s and is now at the Musée de l’Orangerie.  It is unclear in which capacity Guillaume handled the Cleveland Soutine.
    2 Doucet, the influential French couturier, amassed an extensive art, furniture, and book collection.  When in his collection the Soutine hung next to Picasso’s Tete de l’Arlequin and Les Desmoiselles d’Avignon.  
  • Raynal, Maurice. Modern French Painters. 1928.
    Waldemar, George. Soutine. Paris: Éditions Le Triangle, 1928.
    Musée du Petit Palais (Paris). Les maitres de l'art indépendant: 1895-1937. Paris: Editions Arts & Métiers Graphiques, 1937.
    Ditner, David C. "Chaim Soutine's Still Life with Rayfish." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 67, no. 2 (1980): 41-49. Reproduced: p. 42; Mentioned: p. 41-49 www.jstor.org
    Tuchman, Maurice, Esti Dunow, and Klaus Perls. Chaim Soutine (1893-1943): catalogue raisonné = Werkverzeichnis. Köln: Benedikt Taschen Verlag, 1993.
    Degel, Kirsten, and Malou Wedel Bruun, eds. Chaïm Soutine: Mod Strømmen. Humlebæk [Denmark]: Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2023. Reproduced: p. 79, no. 20
  • Chaïm Soutine - Against the Current. Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany (organizer) (September 1, 2023-January 14, 2024); Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humbelbaek, Denmark (February 9-July 14, 2024); Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern, Switzerland (August 16-December 1, 2024) https://www.kunstmuseumbern.ch/en/ausstellung/chaim-soutine.
    Chaïm Soutine (1893-1943), l'ordre du chaos. Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, France (October 2, 2012-January 21, 2013).
    Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Seoul Art Center, South Korea (December 22, 2006-March 28, 2007); Seoul Olympic Museum of Art, South Korea (April 7-May 20, 2007); Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada (June 9-September 16, 2007); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 2007-January 13, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 15-June 1, 2008); Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT (June 22-September 21, 2008); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (October 12, 2008-January 18, 2009).
    Chaim Soutine. Israel Museum, 91710 Jerusalem, Israel (April 26-August 14, 1998); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (September 17, 1998-January 3, 1999); The Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH (February 14-May 2, 1999).
    Chaïm Soutine. Museo d'Arte Moderna (organizer) (March 12-June 18, 1995).
    La Nature Morte de Brueghel à Soutine (The Still Life of Brueghel in Soutine). Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, F-33000 Bordeaux, France (organizer) (May 5-September 1, 1978).
    Soutine. Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, France (April 27-September 17, 1973).
    In Memoriam: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 4-April 7, 1958).
  • {{cite web|title=Still Life with Rayfish|url=false|author=Chaïm Soutine|year=1923|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1951.357