Lily Taylor Paints the Food in Sylvia Plath’s Writing

by The AWT Editors

Lily Taylor’s gouache “Avocados,” five avocado halves on a white plate against a blue background, a stream of dark red sauce pouring into one of the pits
Lily Taylor, “Avocados,” 2021. Gouache on paper, 5 1/2 × 8 inches (14 × 20.3 cm). Courtesy of Monya Rowe Gallery, New York.

Sylvia Plath often wrote down what she ate, in her diaries and in letters.

Around 2020, the writer Rebecca Brill began collecting those lines and posting them on Twitter as “Sylvia Plath’s Food Diary.” Every Sunday, her friend, the painter Lily Taylor, made a small gouache inspired by one of them. A selection is now in Monya Rowe Gallery’s online viewing room as “Dispatches from ‘Sylvia Plath’s Food Diary’.” Taylor and Brill hope to publish the whole series as a book.

Taylor was drawn to how much feeling Plath could put into a short description of a dinner party, a late-night snack, or a trip to the market. “Her sensual details in limited supply gave me room to imagine the rich interior and exterior worlds those details might inhabit,” she says in the gallery’s press release.

Taylor was born in New York in 1993. She studied English at Wesleyan University, earned her MFA at the Rhode Island School of Design, and lives in Kingston, N.Y. Below are eight of the paintings, in the order Plath wrote the lines.

As a Teenager

“I filled up on four good pieces of bread, butter, and jam which satisfied me for the time.” (1947)

Lily Taylor’s gouache “Bread, Butter and Jam,” four slices of toast spread with dark red jam, seen from above
Lily Taylor, “Bread, Butter and Jam,” 2021. Gouache on paper, 7 × 6 inches (17.8 × 15.2 cm). Courtesy of Monya Rowe Gallery, New York.

“Today has been so full - I ate two pieces of apple pie a la mode at lunch and 6 pieces of cake at tea & supper combined. What a life.” (October 27, 1950)

Plath wrote this on her 18th birthday, a few weeks into her first year at Smith College.

Lily Taylor’s gouache “Today,” an open spiral notebook with two slices of pie topped with ice cream and six slices of cake drawn on the page
Lily Taylor, “Today,” 2021. Gouache on paper, 5 1/2 × 5 inches (14 × 12.7 cm). Courtesy of Monya Rowe Gallery, New York.

“We had iced coffee & ice cream at Davis and went for a swim in the pool.” (May 15, 1951)

Lily Taylor’s gouache “Iced Coffee and Ice Cream,” a tall swirl of vanilla and chocolate soft serve on a cone
Lily Taylor, “Iced Coffee and Ice Cream,” 2022. Gouache on paper, 5 × 4 inches (12.7 × 10.2 cm). Courtesy of Monya Rowe Gallery, New York.

In Her Twenties

“Bought a kilo of delicious yellow pears touched with red, and another kilo of peaches at the nearest corner stand.” (1956)

Lily Taylor’s gouache “Pears and Peaches,” rows of yellow pears blushed with red in front of a pile of peaches
Lily Taylor, “Pears and Peaches,” 2021. Gouache on paper, 5 × 4 1/2 inches (12.7 × 11.4 cm). Courtesy of Monya Rowe Gallery, New York.

“At two a.m. I had a sudden wild craving for ten buttered crackers with cheese and a glass of sherry. I leapt up, buttered myself ten crackers, with cheese, and poured a glass of sherry; I drink a glass a day now; it is my one luxury; it will stay one glass.” (October 9, 1956)

Lily Taylor’s gouache “Buttered Crackers,” two round crackers with a slice of cheese between them on a white background
Lily Taylor, “Buttered Crackers,” 2021. Gouache on paper, 5 1/2 × 6 inches (14 × 15.2 cm). Courtesy of Monya Rowe Gallery, New York.

“After giggling over the possibility of theater tickets, dinner in Soho, pink champagne, the cloud of common sense began to settle.” (1960)

Lily Taylor’s gouache “Pink Champagne,” one hand reaching down to a glass of pink champagne while a second hand with red nails holds its stem
Lily Taylor, “Pink Champagne,” 2022. Gouache on paper, 8 1/2 × 5 inches (21.6 × 12.7 cm). Courtesy of Monya Rowe Gallery, New York.

“I like the carrot cake so much I make it as a Christmas cake, and gave the midwife one after she had delivered the baby.” (February 1, 1962)

The baby was her son, Nicholas, born at home in Devon in January.

Lily Taylor’s gouache “Carrot Cake,” hands holding a swaddled baby in a knit hat on the left and hands holding out a round cake on the right
Lily Taylor, “Carrot Cake,” 2021. Gouache on paper, 4 × 6 inches (10.2 × 15.2 cm). Courtesy of Monya Rowe Gallery, New York.

“The Bell Jar”

“He taught me how to eat avocados by melting grape jelly and French dressing together in a saucepan and filling the cup of the pear with the garnet sauce.” (1963)

This line is from Plath’s novel “The Bell Jar,” published in 1963. In the book, Esther Greenwood remembers her grandfather. Taylor’s painting of it is at the top of this page.

The series is in Monya Rowe Gallery’s online viewing room. For more on food in women’s art, read Yassana Croizat-Glazer’s “Moving Feasts and Still Lifes.” We also spoke with Monya Rowe about her gallery in 2023.

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