Lemon Meringue Pie 1964

Wayne Thiebaud made this ‘Lemon Meringue Pie’ painting with delicious-looking paint. He's got these juicy colors, yellows and whites with a surprising blue around the plate. It makes me think about how much painting is about inventing color, and how color makes shape and space. It seems he’s pushing the paint around, trying to make it stand up like a real slice of pie. I’ve always loved how Thiebaud paints everyday things. He finds a way to make them new and strange. I wonder if he was thinking about all the other painters who've painted food? Like, what's the difference between this and a still life from the Dutch Golden Age? I think it's that he’s not just showing us the thing, but also showing us how paint can be a thing, too. It's like he’s saying, “Hey, look what paint can do!”. And that’s a pretty cool thing to say.