Neighbor News
Peter Paone: Not So Still Life at Michener Art Museum
Series of nearly forty recent paintings from Peter Paone place seemingly-disparate objects and animals in still life arrangements inspired.
DOYLESTOWN, PA (October 2, 2025)—A new series of still lifes from Peter Paone, an artistic
force of the Philadelphia region for over seven decades, is on view from October 11, 2025–March
15, 2026, at the Michener Art Museum exhibition Peter Paone: Not So Still Life.
Curated by Gerry and Marguerite Lenfest Chief Curator Laura Turner Igoe, the exhibition presents
nearly forty recent paintings by the artist along with examples of Paone’s drawings that helped to
generate his finished still lifes.
The works are inspired by Dutch vanitas paintings, in which the viewer is meant to contemplate
the passage of time and inevitability of death. Paone combines seemingly-disparate objects and
animals—like cakes, cats, asparagus, skeletons, birds, and fish—into intriguing arrangements.
“Historically, a still life painting has included subjects of domestic arrangements found within the
artist’s reach. For me, a still life painting is much more than a composition of household
goods. It’s a gathering from a journey of a life lived,” Paone said.
Providing a sense that someone has just left or arrived, the paintings in Peter Paone: Not So Still
Life defy expectations of the still life genre with the surreal quality of his unexpected subjects. The
artworks prompt more questions than answers in a narrative that viewers piece together from
what Paone calls “objects draped in color performing together on a tabletop stage in a framed
theater.”
“These tantalizing still lifes from Peter Paone delight the eye with bright colors, fantastical
creatures, and imaginative cakes and table settings,” Igoe said. “They also encourage us to
engage with the world around us, ask questions, and think about new possibilities.”
Paone’s work is drawn from his vivid imagination, an artistic approach where he famously does
not work from models or draw directly from life. Even his extensive portfolio of sketches is not
copied directly in a finished piece. Instead, they serve to inform his still life paintings, along with a
number of intriguing objects collected throughout his 89 years of life and travels.
