What happens when the artists who taught us to look at the world differently sit down at the dinner table? Sometimes, they reach for a potato pie. Sometimes, a bowl of spaghetti. And sometimes, they turn dinner parties into a spectacle as extravagant as their art. From Salvador Dalí’s eccentric culinary imagination to Frida Kahlo’s festive table at Casa Azul, food offers an unexpected way into the private worlds of artists we think we already know.
These are the recipes that found their way into their kitchens, onto their tables and, eventually, into the stories we remember about them.
Salvador Dali’s Fruit Cream
Salvador Dali wanted to become a cook when he was six years old. Beyond The Persistence of Memory and The Metamorphosis of Narcissus, he was also known for theatrical, opulent dinner parties organised with his wife Gala. He later wrote Les Diners de Gala, published in 1973, which spans 136 recipes across 12 chapters.
The 10th chapter of the bizzaro cookbook, titled “I Eat GALA,” is dedicated to aphrodisiacs. It also includes Thousand-year-old eggs, Frog Pasties, Toffee with Pine Cones, and Veal Cutlets Stuffed with Snails, among others. While little can be said about the recipes’ recreatability, they are worth exploring if you get your hands on the rare book. It offers a peek at what filled Dali’s dinner-party tables and lets you see the illustrations he created for the book.
One recipe that seems easy to try at home is his fruit cream. It is prepared by heating grape and apricot juice in a saucepan, adding semolina and cream, and cooking for 5 minutes. The mixture should then be left to rest until lukewarm. Dali recommends adding plum and topping it with house-made whipped cream, for which he gives the recipe in the book.
Claude Monet’s Potato Pie
Monet, my favourite artist, was turning blind when he painted his most iconic water lilies. I once knew him only for his brush strokes and the beauty with which he painted water, but today I also know him for his love of a well-done potato pie. This recipe comes from the Monet Cookbook by Florence Genter, which includes some of the Impressionist’s favourite recipes. If you are a Monet fan, visit his home in Giverny, France, where the white-and-blue-tiled kitchen is one of the most elaborate parts of the house.
This rustic potato and onion pie combines a buttery pastry made with flour, butter, egg yolks, and salt with a filling of firm potatoes, onions, parsley, heavy cream, egg and seasoning. The recipe is easy to prepare, and it is easy to see why Monet, Renoir, and Cézanne liked it.
Jackson Pollock And His Spaghetti
One of the pioneers of abstract impressionism and best known for the drip technique, Jackson Pollock never tasted spaghetti until he was 18 years old, but the dish became one of his house favourites. This recipe from Robyn Lea’s Dinner with Jackson Pollock appears in many of the dinner parties Pollock threw with his wife, Lee Krasner.
The three-step spaghetti isn’t just quick; it also looks delicious. It pairs pasta with a rich pork-and-mushroom sauce. To prepare it, heat olive oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet and brown finely chopped onion. Add hand-cut pork, sliced mushrooms, tomato paste, water and a bay leaf, then season with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the pork is tender and the sauce has thickened. Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti in salted boiling water for 8–10 minutes, then drain. Toss the cooked spaghetti with the pork and mushroom sauce, allowing the flavours to coat the pasta. Finish with a generous sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese before serving.
Frida Kahlo’s Strawberry Atole
Frida Kahlo’s Casa Azul was more than a home; it was also a space where food, art and celebration came together. Alongside her husband, painter Diego Rivera, Kahlo hosted lively gatherings known as días de los manteles largos, or “days of the long tablecloth”. In 1994, Kahlo’s stepdaughter, Guadalupe Rivera, published a memoir recalling her years living with the couple, including recipes served during important festivals and holidays.
Among the occasions described in the memoir is Día de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead. Preparations at Casa Azul began on October 31, when the house “moved into high gear” for the festivities. The menu included pan de muerto, pumpkin in syrup, chicken in pipián sauce and tamales wrapped in banana leaves. It was accompanied by strawberry atole, a warm, corn-based beverage traditionally enjoyed during the festival. Flavoured with fresh strawberries and brown sugar, the drink is equally suited to a cold evening beyond the celebrations.
The recipe uses four ingredients: 1¼ cups masa harina, 6 cups water, 2 cups strawberries and ¾ cup brown sugar. To make it, dissolve the masa harina in 4 cups of water, then let the mixture stand for 15 minutes. Strain it to remove any lumps. Separately, puree the strawberries with the brown sugar and the remaining two cups of water, then strain the mixture. Combine both mixtures in a large saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens into a smooth, warming drink. Serve the atole hot.
Louise Bourgeois’s French Cucumber Salad
For Louise Bourgeois, cooking was shaped by memories of childhood, family and eventually, friendship. Though she avoided cooking as a student, the French-American artist later became known for entertaining fellow artists at her New York home, where she could find herself feeding up to 15 people at short notice. Her contribution to The Museum of Modern Art Artists’ Cookbook reflects her preference for simple, economical French staples.
This cucumber salad, which she served as a first course, uses six peeled cucumbers, olive oil, tarragon vinegar, tarragon, salt, pepper and chopped chives or scallions. To prepare it, layer thinly sliced cucumbers in a bowl, salting each layer, cover and refrigerate for 12 hours. Rinse and dry the cucumbers, then whisk together the oil, vinegar, tarragon, salt and pepper. Toss the dressing with the cucumbers, finish with chives or scallions, and serve with hot French bread.
