An Artist Has Created a Tree That Bears 40 Different Types of Fruit

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Artist and Syracuse University professor Sam Van Aken has spent years creating a living masterpiece—the "Tree of 40 Fruit," which bears 40 varieties of stone fruit.

With what he calls "sculpture through grafting," Van Aken takes branches from different single-variety trees and painstakingly attaches them to a "master" tree. He's traveled all over New York state collecting boughs that bear different heirloom varieties of peaches, plums, and apricots, and created a comprehensive timeline of when they blossom and bear fruit in relation to one another. The effect is a tree with different blossoms and leaves as well as different fruits.

Van Aken grew up on a farm, so it makes sense that agriculture would eventually find a way into his work as an artist. He recalls being fascinated by the grafting process as a child, saying "it was Dr. Seuss, and Frankenstein, and just about everything fantastic." It's slow going, though, as each tree takes about five years to complete.

According to Van Aken, the aim of his artwork is disruption. As he told Epicurious, "I want the tree to interrupt and transform the everyday. When the tree unexpectedly blossoms in different colors, or you see these different types of fruit hanging from its branches, it not only changes the way you look at it, but it changes the way you perceive [things] in general."

Amazingly, Van Aken has already created more than one of these trees, with sixteen at last count spread across the U.S. He cites the growth and unpredictability of this project as what's kept him invested over so many years. "Unlike any other artworks that I've made, these things continuously evolve," Van Aken says. "Plus, you get fruit all summer."