The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 21, 2025

Horizontally oriented, stylized oil painting depicting people with light to medium-light skin tones harvesting olives from a gnarled tree. Some stand on ladders leaned at angles against the tree, waving thin, light brown sticks taller than them. At the tree's base, others lift the edges of a yellow-brown cloth, one kneeling over one of the baskets placed among the olives scattered across it. Crumbled, brick buildings frame the tree in front of a blue sky.

Hadrian's Villa

1958

Peter Blume

(American, born Russian Empire [now Belarus], 1906–1992)
America
oil on canvas
Framed: 93 x 108.6 x 7 cm (36 5/8 x 42 3/4 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 76.2 x 91.5 cm (30 x 36 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edward L. Holsten 1958.318
© [year] The Educational Alliance, Inc. / Estate of Peter Blume / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Born Piotr Sorek-Sabel to Russian Jewish parents, the future artist emigrated to the U.S. in 1911.

Description

Peter Blume depicts a scene he witnessed at the ruins of Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli, Italy, where a group of workers harvested olives from a gnarled tree. While some of the figures climb ladders to access the fruit, others gather it in baskets. Ruined buildings frame the olive tree, contrasting the bounty of the harvest with decay.
  • Artlens Exhibition 2017. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 24, 2017-May 29, 2019).
    Peter Blume: Nature and Metamorphosis. Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Museum of American Art, Philadelphia, PA (organizer) (November 12, 2014-April 5, 2015); Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT (June 27-September 20, 2015).
    Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia (11/12/2014 - 4/5/2015) and Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT (6/27/2015 - 9/20/2015): "Peter Blume: Nature and Metamorphosis'
  • {{cite web|title=Hadrian's Villa|url=false|author=Peter Blume|year=1958|access-date=21 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1958.318