Paradoxical this may sound, these are closely related impressions. His still lifes just sit there and say little.
Lighting is flat and neutral.
These paintings offer little that we can easily characterize as exciting. Chardin's figures are aloof, if not downright inert. They are just there. They have no narrative to tell, display no drama to stir our emotion, and deliver no obvious morals. His paintings fail to address the viewer in almost every way we expect paintings to do.