In this unsettling adaptation of Jean-Siméon Chardin's The Rayfish (ca. 1725–26), Soutine paired the fish's bloody entrails with a smiling, almost humanlike mouth. He reanimated the dead ray by concentrating on its vibrant underbelly and used thick, fluid brushstrokes to suggest slick flesh.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
[Leopold Zborowski, Paris]; Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Miestchaninoff, Paris and New York (by 1950–his d. 1956); Mrs. Oscar Miestchaninoff, New York (1956–68); [Crane Kalman Gallery, New York, 1968–69; in February 1969 to Perls]; [Perls Galleries, New York, 1969]; Mr. and Mrs. Klaus G. Perls, New York (1969–97; their gift to MMA)
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Soutine," October 31, 1950–January 7, 1951, unnumbered cat. (p. 75; as "Ray-fish," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Miestchaninoff, New York).
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Soutine," January 30–March 18, 1951, unnumbered cat.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Chaïm Soutine, 1893–1943," February 20–April 14, 1968, no. 64 (lent by Mrs. Oscar Miestchaninoff, New York).
New York. Perls Galleries. "Chaim Soutine (1893–1943)," November 11–December 13, 1969, no. 9 (dated 1924).
Tokyo. Gallery Yoshii. "Soutine: Peintre de la fatalité, fureur passionnée," January 10–31, 1973, no. 16 (as "Nature morte à la raie," 1924).
Paris. Orangerie des Tuileries. "Soutine," April 27–September 17, 1973, no. 23 (as "La raie," lent by Perls Galleries, New York).
New York. Perls Galleries. "Forty Years, Forty Masterworks," October 18–November 26, 1977, no. 36 (as "Nature Morte à la Raie," lent by a private collection).
Münster. Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte. "Chaïm Soutine, 1893–1943," December 13, 1981–February 28, 1982, no. 62 (as "Stilleben mit Rochen [Nature morte à la Raie]," 1925, lent by Perls Galleries, New York).
London. Hayward Gallery. "Chaïm Soutine, 1893–1943," July 14–August 22, 1982, no. 62 (as "Still Life with Skate [Nature morte à la Raie]," 1925, lent by Perls Galleries, New York).
Kunstmuseum Luzern. "Chaïm Soutine, 1893–1943," August 31–October 31, 1982, no. 62 (as "Stilleben mit Rochen [Nature morte à la Raie]," 1925, lent by Perls Galleries, New York).
New York. Galleri Bellman. "Soutine (1893–1943)," December 6, 1983–January 28, 1984, unnumbered cat. (pl. 22; as "Still Life with Skate," 1924, lent by Perls Galleries, New York).
Edinburgh. Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. "Creation: Modern Art and Nature," August 15–October 14, 1984, no. 101 (as " Nature morte avec la raie [Still Life with Skate]," 1925, lent by Perls Galleries, New York).
Musée de Chartres. "Soutine," June 29–October 30, 1989, no. 32 (as "Nature morte à la raie," 1924, lent by Perls Galleries, New York).
Tokyo. Odakyu Museum. "Chaïm Soutine Centenary Exhibition," November 18–December 7, 1992, no. 48 (lent by Perls Galleries, New York).
Ibaraki. Kasama Nichido Museum. "Chaïm Soutine Centenary Exhibition," March 5–April 4, 1993, no. 48.
Sapporo. Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art. "Chaïm Soutine Centenary Exhibition," April 10–May 16, 1993, no. 48.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Painters in Paris: 1895–1950," March 8–December 31, 2000, extended to January 14, 2001, unnumbered cat. (p. 96; as "The Ray").
Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art. "Picasso and the School of Paris: Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," September 14–November 24, 2002, no. 54 (as "The Ray," 1924).
Tokyo. Bunkamura Museum of Art. "Picasso and the School of Paris: Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," December 7, 2002–March 9, 2003, no. 54.
Helly Nahmad Gallery, New York. "Soutine/ Bacon," May 2–June 18, 2011, unnumbered cat. (p. 149; as "Still Life with Ray Fish").
Jewish Museum, New York. "Chaim Soutine: Flesh," May 4–September 16, 2018, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Alice Neel: People Come First," March 22–August 1, 2021, not in catalogue.
Monroe Wheeler. Soutine. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York. New York, 1950, pp. 73, 113, ill. p. 75.
Paolo D'Ancona. Modigliani, Chagall, Soutine, Pascin: Some Aspects of Expressionism. Milan, 1953, p. 62, calls it "Ray-Fish".
Renata Negri. "Chaim Soutine." L'Arte Moderna 10, no. 87 (1967), ill. p. 235, as "La razza," in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Miestchaninoff, New York.
Maurice Tuchman. Chaim Soutine, 1893–1943. Exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles, 1968, pp. 35–36, 54, no. 64, ill. p. 118, states that Soutine made at least three paintings inspired by Jean-Siméon Chardin's "The Rayfish" (ca. 1725–26; Musée du Louvre, Paris) [see Ref. Tuchman et al. 1993]; notes that Soutine did not copy the Chardin, but recreated the motif in his studio; calls the Soutines "candid acknowledgements of older work".
Gabriel Laderman. "Expressionism, Concentric and Eccentric." Artforum 7 (February 1969), ill. p. 50, lists it still in the collection of Mrs. O. Miestchaninoff.
Grace Glueck. "New York Gallery Notes: 'Tis the Month Before Christmas." Art in America 57 (November–December 1969), ill. p. 152 (color).
Pierre Courthion. Soutine: Peintre du déchirant. Lausanne, 1972, p. 78, ill. p. 257, fig. C, calls it "La Raie aux Tomates" and dates it 1926–27.
Raymond Cogniat. Soutine. New York, 1973, ill. p. 36 (color), calls it "Rayfish".
Jean Leymarie. Soutine. Exh. cat., Orangerie des Tuileries. Paris, 1973, pp. 5, 86, no. 23, ill. p. 39.
Alfred Werner. "The Other Soutine." Art and Artists 8 (May 1973), ill. p. 27 (color), calls it "Still Life with Ray-fish" and dates it 1924.
Isabelle Fontaine and Dominique Bozo. "Orangerie des Tuileries: Soutine." La Revue du Louvre et des musées de France 23, no. 3 (1973), p. 198, fig. 1.
"Soutine." Art International 18 (January 20, 1974), ill. p. 32 (color), as "Nature morte à la Raie".
Alfred Werner. Chaïm Soutine. New York, 1977, p. 108, colorpl. 22, ill. p. 31 (with erroneous credit line) and front cover (color), calls it "Still Life with Ray".
David C. Ditner. "Chaim Soutine's Still Life with Rayfish." Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 67 (February 1980), pp. 41, 43, 48 nn. 3, 6, fig. 3, calls it "The Rayfish with Tomatoes"; comments that this picture is the closest of Soutine's three versions to Chardin's "The Rayfish" (Louvre, Paris); compared to the Chardin, states that "Soutine's rayfish is no longer just an object in nature; it has become a persona which speaks eloquently of his own dramatic personal struggle".
Christopher Neve. "The Page Boy at Maxim's. Chaim Soutine (1893–1943)." Country Life 172 (August 5, 1982), p. 379, fig. 2, calls it "Still Life with Skate" and dates it 1925.
David Sylvester inChaim Soutine, 1893–1943. Ed. Ernst-Gerhard Güse. Exh. cat., Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Münster. London, 1982, p. 42.
Maurice Tuchman inChaim Soutine, 1893–1943. Ed. Ernst-Gerhard Güse. Exh. cat., Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Münster. London, 1982, pp. 61, 63.
Esti Dunow inChaim Soutine, 1893–1943. Ed. Ernst-Gerhard Güse. Exh. cat., Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Münster. London, 1982, pp. 94, 245, no. 62, ill. p. 131, fig. 38, colorpl. 62.
Esti Dunow inSoutine (1893–1943). Exh. cat., Galleri Bellman. New York, 1983, pp. 7, 10, 67, colorpl. 22.
N[ancy]. P[rincenthal]. "New York Reviews: Chaim Soutine. Galleri Bellman." Art News 83 (March 1984), p. 209.
Robert Rosenblum inCreation: Modern Art and Nature. Exh. cat., Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Edinburgh, 1984, pp. 13–14.
Keith Hartley inCreation: Modern Art and Nature. Exh. cat., Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Edinburgh, 1984, p. 77, no. 101, ill. and ill. between pp. 72 and 73 (color), notes that Soutine painted from a fresh fish obtained daily; describes the rayfish as having "an uncannily human face".
Maïthé Vallès-Bled. Soutine. Exh. cat., Musée de Chartres. Chartres, 1989, pp. 182–84, no. 32, ill. (color).
Maurice Tuchman, Esti Dunow, and Klaus Perls. Chaim Soutine (1893–1943): Catalogue raisonné. Werkverzeichnis. Cologne, 1993, vol. 1, pp. 422–23, no. II-61, ill. (color), catalogue four paintings of the rayfish, including this one, dated between ca. 1922 and ca. 1924.
Roberto Tassi inChaim Soutine. Ed. Rudy Chiappini. Exh. cat., Museo d'Arte Moderna, Lugano. Milan, 1995, p. 60, dates Soutine's four versions of this motif from 1917 to 1924.
Jean Leymarie inChaim Soutine. Ed. Rudy Chiappini. Exh. cat., Museo d'Arte Moderna, Lugano. Milan, 1995, p. 94.
Esti Dunow inChaim Soutine. Ed. Rudy Chiappini. Exh. cat., Museo d'Arte Moderna, Lugano. Milan, 1995, pp. 116, 118.
Esti Dunow inThe New Landscape/ The New Still Life: Soutine and Modern Art. Exh. cat., Cheim & Read. New York, 2006, unpaginated, ill. (color).
Stanley Meisler. Shocking Paris: Soutine, Chagall and the Outsiders of Montparnasse. New York, 2015, unpaginated, ill. (color), calls it "The Ray" and dates it 1924.
Adam Eaker with Cecily Brown in Ian Alteveer. Cecily Brown: Death and the Maid. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2023, pp. 105–9, fig. 20 (color) and ill. (color detail).
Chaim Soutine (French (born Lithuania), Smilovitchi 1893–1943 Paris)
ca. 1919
Resources for Research
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's engagement with art from 1890 to today includes the acquisition and exhibition of works in a range of media, spanning movements in modernism to contemporary practices from across the globe.
