Around 2014, in his apartment in Harlem, a former real estate agent named Jeffrey Ventura Morell installed a large portrait of an 18th-century gentleman in his kitchen — right above his dishwasher, gilt frame and all. “To me, any wall is another place to put art,” he said recently. “But the kitchen has also become a place to hang out. It’s the heart of the house, and the heart wants art.”
Morell lives near Woodstock now, but he’s still got paintings in his kitchen. Two of them — of fruit — that used to belong to his mom. The actress/artist Diane Gaeta has an oil by Noah Verrier over her kitchen sink in L.A. Because Verrier’s still lifes feature fast food and casual fare like PB&Js and BLTs, it makes sense that they might be placed where meals are made. But I also just keep seeing this. (Look here, here, here, and here.)
Boutique architecture and interiors firms in Paris, where I live, are doing it. Top-drawer interior designers around the world are doing it. Old-world-esque paintings have crept into the kitchen. They’re on the walls. They’re on the open shelves.
“There’s a type of human who has always decorated their kitchen,” the American interior designer Leanne Ford told me. “But with so many people having lower cabinetry and these upper open shelves, we’re adding art.” She went on: “I really, truly believe in a kitchen that feels more like a room than just a kitchen.”
“For me, this trend is quite a European way of designing,” Helen Parker, DeVol’s creative director in London, said. Many British and Mediterranean kitchens have art and fabric — drapery, sofas, or banquettes — in the kitchen. A kitchen painting for her has “either got to be quirky and colorful or beautifully painted,” she said. “The frame is important, too.” (More kitchen paintings from DeVol here, here, and here.)
“The frame’s key,” said interiors stylist Colin King. He’s a fan of “really thick, gilded wood.” A couple of years ago, he placed his first old painting onto some open shelves in a kitchen in the Hamptons. “It injected some emotion into an otherwise pretty cold space,” he explained. Either leaning against a wall or hanging on one, kitchen paintings can “activate a disregarded corner or dead end and bring the eye through the space,” said King. “I love art above doorways.”
Athena Calderone, the interior designer behind EyeSwoon, said she’s always looking for a certain beautiful “friction” between rough and slick elements in a space, and paintings are an effective way to get there. Calderone’s kitchen in Amagansett includes an old-world etching of a seascape that belonged to her parents. She’d sanded its gilt frame for hours to reveal the raw oak. In Paris, more recently, she noticed a painting of a fish in the window of an antique store, which she bought and placed in her former kitchen in Brooklyn. “I usually look for something that is very much weathered and you can see the signs of age over time,” said Calderone, who also mentioned loving a piece “with unknown history.” She has sourced kitchen paintings “everywhere — from yard sales to my parents’ basement to Live Auctioneers and eBay,” she said.
Ford agreed: “Don’t be afraid of Goodwills. Don’t be snobby. There’s a lot of treasure!” She also notes that Etsy, Chairish, and even Craigslist have good edits. Cast a wide search using any of these keywords, she says: “vintage still life” … “old oil painting” … “vintage French art.” I needed no convincing by this point, I needed kitchen paintings. And since the wild didn’t immediately offer up any options, I went truffling online.
On Le Bon Coin — which is like French Craigslist — there was an acrylic portrait of Brigitte Bardot bordered by mimosa sprigs. (A great idea not greatly executed.) Next, I almost bought an oil of a volcano erupting under a full moon. (Honestly? I worried it might give the appliances ideas.) Then, there was a dreamy abstract for pickup in Versailles. (That was far, far too big.) The undated oil that I ended up bringing home is a nature morte of pheasants, figs, garlic bulbs, and lemons. It’s done in moody browns and greens with moments of red and yellow. It’s got a matte varnish and a flat perspective, and I really dig it — but it’s currently hanging in the living room until we renovate our kitchen this winter.
“Renovations are overwhelming. There are many decisions to make, and you can spend forever just changing your mind about colors,” Parker, at DeVol, had said. Her parting advice? Pick a kitchen painting instead. Let its palette “break down the mystery.” Consider this kale-green.
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