This is one of those “blink and you’ll miss” it items from Twin Peaks – The Return. As Becky Burnett runs up a staircase, she passes a Robert Wood painting in Gersten’s apartment building. The cool part about this framed wall decor is I found it still hanging in the stairwell when I visited in January 2020.
ROBERT WOOD PAINTING IN GERSTEN’S APARTMENT BUILDING
In Part 11, Becky Burnett storms into Gersten Hayward’s Apartment building seeking her husband Steven. As she flies up the stairs in a fit of rage, you can see a oversized painting hanging above the stairwell.
I had to take this scene frame by frame as she moves quickly up the stairs. You can see part of the paining on the right side of the image above.
Becky’s jaunt up the stairs ends with her standing outside apartment 208. Only a sliver of the image is seen as she gets to the top.
The scene was shot on September 18, 2015 as the Colonial Square Apartments in Snoqualmie, Washington. I stopped by the building on January 24, 2020 to grab some location photos. I was thrilled to see the framed artwork was still in the stairwell!
Notice the “208” is back on the door versus on the wall next to it. The door was mostly likely replaced for the episode since Becky shot at it.
It’s difficult to say how long the painting was in the stairwell but I’m assuming at least five years. Unfortunately, the image had faded a considerable amount due to the sun. As of May 2024, the image is no longer in the stairwell as it was replaced with an image of old Issaquah. Thank you to Bookhouse Gal Eva for confirming this detail.
SPRING IN THE SMOKIES BY ROBERT WOOD
Identifying the image was fairly easy. I cropped the image I took in January 2020 and performed an image search via Google. Immediately, search results returned an Etsy sale. This is how the painting appeared before it was faded by the sun.
The painting is titled “Spring in the Smokies” by R. Wood or Robert Wood. The painting at the Colonial Square Apartments is not labeled.
WHO IS ROBERT WOOD?
Chances are you’ve seen Robert Wood’s work at some point in your life. His paintings were reproduced for the masses during his time on earth.
Even my parents owned a reproduction of his autumn-inspired work titled “Path of Gold.” It hung in our family room and later basement for years. Thanks to researching information for this article, I’ve learned more about Mr. Wood’s work.
Robert Wood was born on March 24, 1889 in Sandgate, Kent, England. His father W.J. Wood was a famous painter and sent his son Robert to Art School at the age of 12. After attending school for seven years where he won several awards, he traveled across the United States, Canada and Mexico painting many beautiful scenes and landscapes of his newly adopted land.
He eventually moved to Carmel, California where he painted marine scenes. Later, he resided in Laguna Beach, California where he continued painting ocean scenes and sunsets. His works gained notoriety as a key player in the Laguna Beach art Colony and Southern California art world.
He briefly moved to Woodstock, New York where he painted fall scenes (probably where my parent’s image was inspired) before returning to Laguna Beach. He was divorced twice before marrying Caryl from Bishop, California in the 1950s and eventually moved to her hometown at the foot of California’s rugged Sierras in the 1960s.
They made a brief move to San Diego but returned to Bishop where Wood passed at the age of 89 on March 15, 1979 at Northern Inyo Hospital following a lingering illness. His ashes were scattered over Mt. Tom in California. You can read his extensive biography by Jeffrey Morseberg on RobertWood.net.
WHEN WAS “SPRING IN SMOKIES” PAINTED?
Wood earned a comfortable living from royalties from his works in print. The Harry Eichleay Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania being one of the first companies to license his works in the 1920s. You could also find his artwork in print catalogs from art publishers including Brown and Bigelow in St. Paul, Minnesota; International Art Publishers in Detroit, Michigan; and the Donald Art Company in Port Chester, New York.
Donald Bonnist of the Donald Art Company sold millions of Wood’s reproductions, which were usually produced in a few different sizes. That is how his works began appearing in homes and offices all across the United States.
The earliest mention I found of “Spring in Smokies” was from a St. Louis Post Dispatch advertisement from March 8, 1961 (See above).
A few month later in June 1961, the Dayton Daily News ran an advertisement for Turner Wall Accessories which included an image of this painting. This means that most likely he painted it in the 1950s, perhaps during his trip east to Woodstock.
The last reference I found was an August 1, 1973 advertisement for Hennessy’s in The Montana Standard. The 28-inch by 52-inch reproduction painting was available for $20!
The RobertWood.net website lists “Spring in the Smokies” as one of the reproductions he licensed.
It is certainly a unique item in the Twin Peaks universe, one that gives a nod to something that many people may have had hanging in their homes at one time.
