An artistic take on Thanksgiving.
27.11.2025Thanksgiving is the most important family celebration of the year in the United States, and many families also invite friends or other guests. In 2025, it will take place on 27 November. According to Wikipedia, the focus is on ‘a large meal, usually dinner. Since all generations of a family often gather and some of them live scattered across the country, there is far more traffic at airports and on the roads around the country during the holiday than at any other time of the year.
The traditional Thanksgiving meal has always consisted of a roasted and stuffed turkey with a selection of side dishes and desserts. These include cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, hot apple and cold pumpkin pie, and vegetables such as peas and corn.
Since 1990, the White House has maintained an unusual tradition with the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation. American industry associations present the President with a turkey, which he then pardons; the animal is therefore not slaughtered.
However, for those who prefer something a little less traditional, we recommend reading the article “Thanksgiving Special: How 10 Famous Artists Would Plate Thanksgiving Dinner” from the online magazine Colossal, which, incidentally, always surprises with original examples from the art and craft scene.
In short, the text is an amusing reinterpretation of the traditional Thanksgiving dinner by San Francisco artist Hannah Rothstein. She has created a humorous photo series in which she imagines how famous artists would prepare their Thanksgiving meals. Instead of paints and canvas, she uses traditional Thanksgiving elements such as turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, beans and cranberry sauce – the food itself becomes a form of artistic expression.
In the series, Rothstein picks up on the typical stylistic features of various artists – for example, Piet Mondrian creates a strictly structured composition of rectangular shapes, Vincent van Gogh swirls the components into a ‘Starry Night’ scene, and Jackson Pollock drips and splatters gravy and corn as if in an action painting. Other artists featured in her creatively staged ‘Plates’ include Pablo Picasso, Georges Seurat, Andy Warhol, René Magritte, Keith Haring and Mark Rothko.
With this idea, Rothstein not only combines humour with art history, but also uses the series for charitable purposes: a portion of the proceeds from limited edition art prints goes to the SF Marin Food Bank to support people who may not be able to afford their own Thanksgiving meal.
Overall, the project is a playful exploration of painting and food: it transforms food into “edible art” – and makes us think creatively about what it means to paint on a plate.
