A still life is a picture of inanimate objects that have been deliberately chosen and arranged by the artist. The selected objects may be chosen simply because they are attractive, or because they are difficult to depict (thereby showing off the artist's skill). So still life includes all kinds of man-made or natural objects, cut flowers, fruit, vegetables, fish, game, wine and so on. Still life can be a celebration of material pleasures such as food and wine, or often a warning of the ephemerality of these pleasures and of the brevity of human life. Seventeeth-century Dutch "vanitas" paintings, feature skulls, fruit and flowers that were intended to remind viewers of the transitory nature of life and the inevitability of death, despite all our learning and cultural achievement.