Pumpkins
Artist: Walt Kuhn (American, 1877–1949)
Original Dimensions: 40" x 50 1/4"
Location: National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
About Artwork: (1941) "Walt Kuhn painted Pumpkins on the porch of his cottage on Lake Buel in the Berkshires, near Great Barrington, Massachusetts, during early autumn 1941. At that time he was struggling to recover some of the creative energy of his youth, and he informed his wife that “the two pumpkin paintings have got my swing back. The swing I had 20 or 30 years ago and which I had perforce to give up for the time being to arrive at quality, precision and class.”
This large still life represents a variety of pumpkins and squash arranged before a shallow basket. The fruits are delicately balanced so that any shift would initiate a cascade toward the viewer, imbuing the still life with tension. Kuhn explored the mottled oranges, greens, and yellows and the curving stems of his subjects, treating each pumpkin or squash like a portrait. Pumpkins is one of the most imposing and important still-life paintings that Kuhn produced during the final phase of his career." - (National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.)

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