Beyond the Table: My Impressions of SAM’s "Farm to Table"
Review of Farm to Table at Seattle Art Museum
Written by Teen Editorial Staff Member MARIELA VIDELA
Farm to Table: Art, Food, and Identity in the Age of Impressionism at the Seattle Art Museum is a visual feast that highlights the importance of food during a period of evolving national values in France. I was drawn to Farm to Table by my love of farmers markets, French culture, and Impressionism. As an editor for the TeenTix Newsroom, I was lucky enough to attend the press preview, which turned out to be a perfect mix of my interests: half art lesson and half history lesson. The exhibit of more than 50 Impressionist paintings and sculptures by artists such as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Gauguin, and Eva Gonzalès shows how food became a defining symbol of French history, identity, and pride following the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. I was fascinated by this inextricable link between food and culture, which feels just as relevant today as it was in 19th-century France.
On show now through January 18, 2026, Farm to Table is a traveling exhibit organized by The American Federation of Arts and The Chrysler Museum of Art. It has been adapted for presentation at SAM by curator Theresa Papanikolas, who led the press preview along with co-curators Lloyd DeWitt and Andrew Eschelbacher. Filled with details about French history, the tour helped me fully grasp the meaning behind each painting. Papanikolas started by explaining how Charles-Émile Jacque’s The Shepard and His Flock serves as a nostalgic depiction of farming before industrialization—a theme repeated throughout the exhibit. Meanwhile, DeWitt and Eschelbacher highlighted different connections like the link between French writer Émile Zola’s novel The Belly of Paris and Victor Gabriel Gilbert’s The Square in Front of Les Halles, which depicts the famous food markets Zola wrote about. After the tour, I had the opportunity to talk one-on-one with the exhibit curators, who thoughtfully answered all my questions about Impressionism. As DeWitt pointed out the subtle details and beautifully captured light in Étienne Prosper Berne-Bellecour’s The Remains of the Meal, I found myself sharing his enthusiasm. The beauty of the exhibit’s paintings can only be fully appreciated in person.
My favorite part of the press preview was learning about the carefully crafted vision behind Farm to Table. The exhibit is divided into five sections, each centered on a different aspect of the food system: farming, commerce, food workers, food itself, and dining. The result is a sense of cohesiveness and natural flow. Visitors begin on the farm with paintings such as Rosa Bonheur’s Landscape with Cattle, showing the idealization of traditional farming in an era of industrialization. Change emerges as an important theme in the first section, which shows how French nationalism was expressed as nostalgia after the Franco-Prussian War and addresses French colonization through the diversification of French pantries, a result of establishing farms in colonies.
In the next section, intricate paintings of crowded food markets highlight how these sites were intersections of the rural and urban, creating a safe space for people from different classes to mingle—another representation of change. Section three deepens this exploration of food and class, presenting works such as Narcisse Chaillou’s painting of a young butcher preparing rats, which were a dietary staple during the Siege of Paris in 1870-71.
Food is the sole subject in the following section of still lifes, becoming symbols of class, culinary pride, internationalism, scarcity, and bounty. The significance of these paintings lies in the choice, condition, and arrangement of the food portrayed, such as in Gustave Corbet’s unidealized depiction of fruit in Still Life with Applies, Pears, and Pomegranates, which critiques government corruption and class disparities.
Finally, visitors reach the table. In this last section, gaslight glows in paintings of French restaurants and cafes, shedding light on evolving gender and class dynamics in works such as Jean Béraud’s The Brasserie, which depicts men socializing in a high-end establishment run by women waitresses.
Perhaps the most creative element of the exhibit is the “rest” section midway through. This room includes a dining table decorated in a period French style and a cozy, food-themed book nook. Aptly named “Food for Thought,” this space is for visitors to pause and reflect on the meaning of food in their own lives. We were encouraged to sit and read the notecards on the table, which asked questions such as, “What does farm to table mean to you?” I found myself pondering the disconnect between consumers and food in America. How often do we think about where our food comes from?
Seattle wasn’t randomly chosen as the location of Farm to Table’s only West Coast showing—this is a city that prides itself on its diverse cuisine, seasonal produce, and fresh seafood, which makes the exhibit’s message about identity and food likely to resonate. Growing up in Seattle, I regularly went to the West Seattle farmers market, learning to value access to fresh, local ingredients and contact with farmers. However, even in such a food-conscious city, it’s easy to take food for granted, forgetting the many processes that go into making the products we see sitting on grocery store shelves. The art in Farm to Table brings all these processes to the surface by showing food in every stage of production and consumption. Considering what we eat through this holistic, critical lens inevitably leads to questions concerning farm workers, sustainable agriculture, nutrition, and food access in America. Just like in 19-century France, food is woven into the fabric of American culture.
The power of this exhibit lies in how it uses food-focused art to explore deeper challenges and changes that shape a nation. Each work adds another layer of meaning to a complex story of food and national identity. I walked away more aware of how the way we produce and eat food reflects our values as a culture. In a country infamous for junk food, supermarkets, and fast-food chains, this exhibit serves as a reminder of the systems and lives that exist behind our next meal.
Lead photo: Installation view of Farm to Table: Art, Food, and Identity in the Age of Impressionism at Seattle Art Museum, 2025, photo: Chloe Collyer.
This article was written by a TeenTix Newsroom member on special assignment through the TeenTix Press Corps.
The TeenTix Press Corps promotes critical thinking, communication, and information literacy through criticism and journalism practice for teens. For more information about the Press Corps program see HERE.
