It was huge. Honestly, "huge" doesn't even do it justice. When Amy Farrah Fowler unveiled that massive oil painting of her and Penny in Season 5 of The Big Bang Theory, the studio audience didn't just laugh—they gasped. It was three thousand dollars of "bestie" energy captured in a frame so large it barely fit through a standard apartment door.
We've all been there. You get a gift from a friend that is so deeply well-intentioned and yet so physically horrifying that you can’t help but short-circuit. For Penny, that moment was the Amy and Penny painting.
Why the Amy and Penny Painting Still Haunts Our Dreams
Most people remember the "transvestite Penny" joke or the weirdly masculine hands the artist gave Amy. But there is a lot more to this prop than just a one-off gag about Amy’s social awkwardness.
The painting first appeared in the episode "The Rothman Disintegration." Amy, played by Mayim Bialik, wanted to commemorate her "bestie-ship" with Penny. She didn't just get a photo framed. She commissioned a custom oil painting.
The artist? Apparently, someone who committed suicide shortly after finishing it, at least according to Amy. That’s the kind of dark, weird detail the show excelled at. It added a layer of "you can never throw this away" guilt that Penny—and Kaley Cuoco—had to live with for years.
The Secret of the Fourth Wall
You probably noticed that after the initial shock wore off, the painting didn't sit front and center on the set every week. There's a technical reason for that.
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The show’s creators, Chuck Lorre and Steve Molaro, knew that looking at that monstrosity every episode would be too much. It would pull focus from the actual actors. So, they made a clever narrative choice. They decided to hang it on the "fourth wall."
In sitcom terms, the fourth wall is the invisible plane where the cameras are. By telling the audience the painting was hung above Penny’s TV (which we never see), they could keep the prop in the world of the show without it actually being on screen. It became a running joke. Every now and then, a character would look toward the camera and grimace.
Behind the Scenes: Kaley Cuoco’s Real Reaction
If you think Penny’s horrified face was good acting, you're only half right. Kaley Cuoco was legitimately unsettled by it.
In Jessica Radloff’s book, The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series, the cast opened up about how much they actually hated—and loved—that prop. Cuoco has mentioned in several interviews that the painting "haunted" her. The sheer scale of it was intimidating.
The Nude Version?
One of the most disturbing facts about the Amy and Penny painting is its original "concept." Amy casually mentions to Penny that she originally wanted the two of them to be painted nude.
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Imagine that for a second.
The artist talked her out of it, thankfully, but the fact that Amy even considered it highlights the intense, bordering-on-obsessive crush she had on Penny in the early seasons. It’s a dynamic that eventually softened as Amy became more confident and her relationship with Sheldon grew, but that painting remains a permanent monument to her "Girl Crush" era.
Where is the Painting Now?
The show ended in 2019. The sets were struck. The Cheesecake Factory uniforms were put into storage. So, what happened to the giant canvas?
It didn't go into a dumpster.
According to Steve Molaro, the painting currently resides at the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, California. Specifically, it was moved to the offices of Chuck Lorre Productions. It’s a piece of television history. It sits there as a reminder of a decade of comedy, though hopefully, it’s hanging in a hallway where it can’t startle anyone in the dark.
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The Plot Hole Nobody Mentions
Wait. There is a weird continuity error here. In Season 10, when Sheldon and Amy move into Penny’s old apartment (4B) and Leonard and Penny take over 4A, there’s a bit of a tug-of-war over belongings.
In "The Property Division Collision," the painting makes a grand reappearance. Leonard and Sheldon fight over who has to—or gets to—keep it. Eventually, it ends up back on Penny and Leonard's wall.
However, eagle-eyed fans on Reddit have pointed out that in the series finale and some late-season episodes, the painting seems to teleport. Sometimes characters react to it as if it's in the hallway; other times it's back in the "fourth wall" position. Honestly? Sitcom logic. We let it slide because the joke is worth the error.
Practical Lessons from the Amy-Penny Dynamic
What can we actually learn from this? Gift-giving is a minefield.
- Scale matters. If your gift requires two people and a level to install, it’s not a gift; it’s a renovation.
- Read the room. Amy’s gift was a reflection of her feelings, not Penny’s.
- The "Fourth Wall" trick. If you have something ugly in your house that you can't get rid of for sentimental reasons, put it in a spot where you don't have to look at it every day. Your mental health will thank you.
The Amy and Penny painting was more than a prop. It was a physical manifestation of one of the show's best character arcs—the slow, awkward, and ultimately beautiful growth of a friendship between two women who had absolutely nothing in common.
If you're ever in Burbank, keep an eye out. It might be watching you.
To see the painting in its full "glory," you can revisit Season 5, Episode 17, or Season 10, Episode 10. For those looking to own a piece of the weirdness, several prop replica sites still sell scaled-down poster versions of the portrait, though thankfully, most aren't five feet tall.