Forbidden Fruit
/Robert Remsen Vickrey
1995
American, 1926-2011
Egg tempera on panel
Gift of Scott, Nicole, and Carri Vickrey, made possible by Harmon-Meek Gallery
Florida Southern College Permanent Collection FP.2017.19.1
A perfect example of the whimsy, mystery, and “Magic Realist” style of Vickrey, Forbidden Fruit presents the viewer with a painting that is at once playful and realistically-rendered yet strangely eerie and almost surreal at the same time. A young girl stands with her back toward the viewer, facing directly toward a painted brick wall. We cannot see her face or exactly where she is looking, but we are privy to the images depicted all over the wall that surrounds her. What connects all the figures on the painted wall? Can you recognize any from art history of the past? What significance does the single yellow balloon hold and why is this child alone on the sidewalk staring at a wall? Recall the name of the painting and consider the multiple possible meanings of “forbidden fruit,” literal and otherwise. Vickrey intrigues us and proposes that we let our imaginations run wild here.