Rinderkadaver

In 1925 Soutine moved into a larger Paris studio and hauled in a whole beef carcass to paint. He kept it there for weeks as it decayed, splashing fresh blood over it to keep the reds alive, until the smell brought the neighbours and then the police to his door. He lectured the officers on the importance of art over hygiene. What drove him was a painting in the Louvre, Rembrandt's slaughtered ox, made more than 250 years earlier, which he had studied and wanted to answer. He worked the subject over several canvases, and this is one of them, the flesh built up in reds and blues so thick the meat looks as if it is still moving.