Twin Peaks Prop – Floral Still Life Above Dresser

In Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, we see Laura Palmer spending lots of time in her bedroom. While working on film location stories about the Palmer House used in the film, I decided to search for the floral still life hanging above her dresser. It didn’t take long to find a match.

LAURA PALMER’S BEDROOM IN TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME

In the film, Laura returns to her bedroom shortly after having “girl talk” with Donna Hayward. We see her room looks slightly different than the last time we saw it in the Pilot Episode. That’s because the bedroom was shot on a set in Van Nuys, California.

Here’s a look at her room from the Pilot which is missing the alcove with the dresser.

In the film, she moves toward the “hiding place” behind the dresser and takes out her secret diary.

The scripted action was slightly different.

INT.  LAURA’S ROOM – DAY
Laura comes into her room and drops her books on her bed.  She goes to the window and opens it – takes a package of cigarettes out, pulls one out and lights it.

She goes to her “public” diary which she keeps on her desk.  Opens it to page one takes out a packet full of cocaine.  Like a pro she takes out her “cocaine gadget” from her purse and takes a snort.  Then another.  Big sigh of relief.

Now she moves to her “private” diary behind her dresser – gets a pen, ready to write and starts to freak out.  Pages are missing.  First, she discovers one, then more.

Laura panics. Dropping her cocaine gadget back into her purse and taking her private diary, she sprints from the room.

FINDING THE PAINTING

The previous images didn’t offer a close enough look at the painting. When Laura enters her bedroom after being warned by the grandson about the “man looking for the book with the pages torn out,” we get two fantastic shots which helped me find a match.

The script describes the action:

INT.  LAURA’S BEDROOM – DAY
The opening of the door reveals more and more of her room.  Suddenly it reveals Bob standing in her room at her dresser.  He has pulled the dresser away from the wall looking for something.

ON BOB

He is frozen.  Smiling at her.

ON THE SCENE

With a scream, Laura bolts from her room.

I cropped part of the floral still life from the image above and used Google Image Search. Boom! Found it.

Luckily a seller on Etsy.com had one similar print for sale and Google Image Search located the match. I couldn’t push the “Buy It” button fast enough.

The seller’s description read:

You’ll notice the still life was signed by “Locke,” which you can also see in the film.

The camera jumps to BOB moving from behind the dresser toward Laura.

We get an even better look at the print. I tried multiple searches for any information about the artist named Locke. I found several images of John Locke from another favorite television show, LOST. But nothing about who painted this image.

Other previous auctions turned up similar prints and complementary paintings by Locke. Several sites stated she or he was an “Art Deco” painter in the 1940s.

Some sites listed artwork as being from the 1950s. Either way, I’d love to know more about Locke. Other works I found seem to be part of a series (notice the similar table and subject matter for all four designs).

APPEARANCES OF FLORAL STILL LIFE IN TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME

We get three more great looks at the still life in Laura’s bedroom. For Lynch’s 1992 film, Patricia Norris was the Production Designer and Leslie Morales was credited as Set Decorator. With this image being prominently featured in several key scenes, one has to believe it was selected for a reason.

The Asian-influenced design is echoed on another piece on Laura’s wall that she removes to hang the Grandmother’s picture.

Of course, there are flowers everywhere in the house. Long-time fan and fellow Bookhouse Boy Christian Hartleben noted: “The entire house is stuffed with flowers, to keep down the stench of incest.”

I’m looking forward to adding this still life to my growing collection of replica props.