The meal

Eating together is one of humanity’s oldest rituals, and art has depicted it in everything from sacred images of the Last Supper to peasant weddings and summer parties. We follow the meal from Egyptian tombs and Leonardo’s Last Supper, through Bruegel, Veronese and Dutch laid tables, to Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party, Krøyer’s artists’ party at Skagen and the dinner parties of today.

• Banquets for gods and the dead – antiquity and the Middle Ages
• The Last Supper – the Renaissance
• Weddings and banquets – Veronese and Bruegel
• The laid table – the 17th century
• Oysters and grace – the 18th century
• Luncheon on the grass – the 19th century
• Feasting under the summer sky – the Nordic countries
• From soup cans to dinner parties – the 20th century and today