A photographer has recreated the bizarre eating habits of some of history’s greatest artistic icons in a fascinating new photo series.
Michelle Gerard, who lives in Detroit, has re-imagined the rather unusual snacks, that artists, authors and directors tucked into while gaining inspiration in her collection ‘The Artist Diet’.
She has included the brain food of icons such as Marcel Proust, David Lynch and Andy Warhol, to name a few.
The snacks range from the mundane of a croissant and coffee in bed to a zany artist’s penchant for cake, chocolate sandwiches and a ‘nursery cocktail’ of milk on the rocks.
Other photo reveal the unorthodox breakfasts favoured by the creatives, including one poet who starts his day with a healthy portion of steak and a side of oysters while one director prefers to kick off his morning with whipped sour milk.
The photographer said: ‘I started researching each artist individually to fine tune the details of which era it referred to, which setting they worked in, which other rituals surrounding the food were important, and how this process played into their work.
‘There are details in each photo beyond the food that directly reference facts about their life.’
But can you tell which snack belongs to which star?
Detroit based photographer Michelle Gerard has recreated the unusual eating habits of some of the world’s most iconic artists in her series ‘The Artist Diet’. Pictured: Author F. Scott Fitzgerald spent his nights in a cheap North Carolina hotel eating canned meat straight from the tin with a side of apples and oranges
Pop art sensation Andy Warhol clearly had a sweet tooth, feasting on a diet of candy and cakes, washed down with a ‘Nursery Cocktail – milk on the rocks
Pop art icon Andy Warhol, pictured left, indulged in cake and chocolate sandwiches. Right, American author Jack Kerouac preferred savoury dishes from the Chinese takeaway
Novelist Jack Kerouac wrote from midnight until dawn, snacking on pork Chinese dishes (such as the chow mein seen here) and apple pie a la mode, or ‘with ice cream’
Twin Peaks director David Lynch did as his protagonist Dale Cooper did, and lived off a diet of lots of black coffee, as well as the occasional chocolate milkshake at Bob’s Big Boy at around 2:30pm
The cartoonist behind one of children’s best-loved characters Snoopy, Charles Schulz enjoyed a childlike diet of his own in the form of a ham sandwich and a glass of milk in hi
Artist Georgia O’Keefe enjoyed an exotic start to the day in her breakfast room at the Ghost Ranch in the form of chile verde with eggs and garlic oil
Poet Walt Whitman fed his inspiration with a breakfast of oysters and meat each day while penning his prose
At a glance author John Steinbeck’s breakfast appears complete standard, but he preferred to eat his toast cold and drink his coffee stale at the kitchen table among the jam pots
Novelist Patricia Highsmith set off her day with fried eggs and bacon accompanied by a doughnut and a saucer of sugar, enjoyed in bed with a mug of coffee and several cigarettes
Director Ingmar Bergman enjoyed an unusual breakfast in the form of whipped sour milk with strawberry jam and cornflakes on the set of Wild Strawberries
Artist Gerhard Richter enjoyed a light lunch of yoghurt, tomatoes, bread, olive oil and a cup of chamomile tea at 1pm each day in his dining room alone
Novelist Marcel Proust had one of the more ordinary meals in the form of strong black coffee, boiled mil and a croissant served to him in bed on a silver tray with his mail each day