Caged Pie

Wayne Thiebaud (1920–2021)

1962

Oil on canvas

Some of Wayne Thiebaud’s most poignant works isolate just a single object. Here, a last slice of cherry pie remains in a glass case on a countertop. Thiebaud explained how he recalled fragments of youthful memories as he painted: ‘From when I worked in restaurants,
I can remember seeing rows of pies or a tin of pie with one piece out of it. Those little vedute [views], in fragmented circumstances, were always poetic to me.’

San Diego Museum of Art