Mediterranean Kitchen Wall Art
Mediterranean kitchen wall art in hand-drawn edibles: lemon, fig, olive, artichoke and basil.
Mediterranean kitchen wall art earns its place when it looks like it grew from the food below it. The colours are already in the produce: the hard yellow of a lemon rind, the grey-green of an olive leaf, the ochre of a cut fig.
Each of these studies began on that same table, with the fruit still in front of me. That closeness is the difference between a kitchen that looks styled and one that looks lived in. The set sits inside the wider botanical art prints range.
A Mediterranean kitchen wall works on edibles the kitchen actually uses: lemon, fig, olive, artichoke, basil and cherry tomato, drawn from life. Keep them out of the grease zone above the hob. From €41.
Key Facts
| The six plates | Lemon, Fig, Olive Branch, Artichoke, Sweet Basil, Cherry Tomato |
| Palette | Warm greens, ochre and terracotta on cream |
| Where to hang | Above open shelving, a banquette or the far wall |
| Where not to hang | Directly above a hob or within the grease zone |
| Framing near a kitchen | Glazed, so the glass takes the grease and not the paper |
| Price | Paper from €41, up to 76 × 102 cm |
The six that carry the look
See the collection ›
See the collection ›The lemon and the olive branch are the two that must be there; between them they hold the whole palette. The fig brings the ochre and the cut face, the warmest thing in the group.
The artichoke is the structural one, and it earns a wall of its own if you have a narrow run. The sweet basil is the quiet green that lets the rest breathe. The cherry tomato adds the one clean red the palette otherwise lacks. Six is generous: lemon, olive and fig alone will carry a small wall.
The Mediterranean kitchen palette
The look is not blue and white, whatever the search results say. It is the colour of the produce: the ochre of a cut fig, the grey-green of an olive leaf, the hard yellow of a lemon rind. Those three sit together because they grow together, and the eye knows it.
Which is why a Mediterranean kitchen wall wants edibles rather than flowers. A peony over a stove is a decision about decor. A lemon over a stove is a decision about the room.
Where to hang in a working kitchen
Keep art outside the arc. Everything within roughly a metre of the hob is a grease zone.
Everything within about a metre of a hob is a grease zone. Grease travels, and it settles on every surface. On unglazed paper it does not lift off. Hang outside that radius: above open shelving, along a banquette, on the far wall of a galley, or above a run of drawers.
Steam matters less than grease here, because a kitchen dries fast. If the only free wall is close to the cooking, glaze the frame and accept that you will wipe it.
Frame it, and glaze it. A frame near a kitchen is a sacrificial layer: the glass takes the grease, and a cloth takes it off. Unglazed canvas is the wrong call here. That is the reverse of the bathroom advice, where glazing traps condensation.
Oak or a warm mid-brown suits the palette better than black; black goes hard against the ochre. If the cabinets are already dark, keep the frames light and let the plates carry the contrast.
Drawing the lemon and the olive
The lemon was drawn with the peel still on the branch, because a lemon detached from its leaf is just a yellow shape. The leaf is what makes it a citrus.
The olive branch took three sittings, and the leaves moved between each one as the branch dried and curled. The plate is a composite of where they sat on the first day, which is the only honest version of a branch that will not hold still.
Questions people ask
What art suits a Mediterranean kitchen?
Edibles the kitchen actually uses, drawn from life: lemon, fig, olive, artichoke, basil and cherry tomato. The palette comes from the produce, warm greens and ochre on cream, rather than from blue and white tiling.
Where should you hang art in a kitchen?
Outside the grease zone, which is roughly a metre around the hob. Above open shelving, along a banquette or on the far wall of a galley all work. Airborne grease does not come off unglazed paper.
Framed or unframed near a stove?
Framed and glazed. The glass is a sacrificial layer that takes the grease and wipes clean. This is the opposite of the bathroom answer, where glazing traps condensation.
What colours define the Mediterranean kitchen look?
Ochre, grey-green and hard citrus yellow on a cream ground. It is the colour of the produce rather than a decorating scheme, which is why it holds up when the kitchen is in use.
How do I get these as prints?
Each study is printed and shipped worldwide by Saatchi Art. Paper starts at €41, up to 76 by 102 cm.
The table these were drawn for
All six plates sit in Mediterranean Table, the collection drawn around the edibles of a Mediterranean kitchen. Twelve plates in total.
Original botanical art by Fiurdelin · archival giclée from €41 · framed & shipped worldwide via Saatchi Art