The Pickman Gallery is a location in the North End of Boston in 2287.
Background[]
Pickman, a prolific serial killer of raiders, has made his home in Boston's North End. When not hunting in the alleys of Boston's North End and in various locations across the Commonwealth, he paints the horrified expressions of his victims among other things and has been known to use blood as art supplies.
The North End is an old neighborhood that had residents as early as 1630, Pickman chose this decrepit row house for its access to the ancient underground smuggling tunnels beneath the North End. Inside Pickman's house, one can find blood-splattered paintings, artwork of his victims and corpse "sculptures" adorning the raider-killing lunatic's home.[Non-game 1][Non-game 2]
Layout[]
The upper floors of this three-story building are filled with mutilated corpses and raiders. In the room to the immediate left of the entrance, there are a number of paintings, which will cause companions to react. The third floor features a weapons workbench to the west and a bed to the east.
A hole in the wall in the northeast corner of the third floor provides access to the basement via a series of drops. Alternatively, the basement can be accessed via a stairway behind a Master-locked door in the southeast corner of the first floor in the kitchen. The basement leads to a series of tunnels where the raiders are searching for Pickman.
The first room in the basement contains a chemistry station. In the tunnels after crossing a pipe bridge, a makeshift camp is fitted with a cooking station and a mattress.
At the end of the tunnels, the Sole Survivor will find Pickman being attacked by Slab and a group of raiders. If the raiders are killed, Pickman will reward the player character with his key to a Master-locked safe behind a painting on the first floor labeled "Picnic for Stanley." The painting is in the northwest corner of the room to the left of the entrance. If Pickman is killed, the key may instead be looted from his body. Also at the end of the tunnels past Pickman's room is a ladder exiting through a hatch to a ruined building just east of Mean Pastries; the hatch can only be opened by Pickman's key.
Notable loot[]
- Message to Jack holotape - On the first floor, on a raider's corpse in the art room to the left of the entrance.
- Surgical mask - On the second floor, on a table with a pair of handcuffs near a dead raider on a red gurney. If it has been knocked onto the floor, it may be difficult to spot, but should be near the gurney.
- Two Vault-Tec lunchboxes:
- One is on the third floor, on top of the bed headboard shelf in the eastern room. It is likely to have been displaced due to a raider triggering the missile tripwire on the opposite side of the landing.
- One is in the basement, held by a skeleton in the northwest corner of the first room.
- Two Nuka-Cola Quantums - In the basement, in a crate on the pipe bridge.
- Pickman's key - In Pickman's room, carried or given by Pickman. Opens a safe hidden behind a painting in the art room on the first floor, as well as the hatch exit in the basement tunnels.
- Lock picking bobblehead - In Pickman's room, on the ground beside a burning trash can in the center of the room.
- Astoundingly Awesome Tales issue #4 - In Pickman's room, on the ground in front of the steamer trunk.
- Pickman's Blade - In Pickman's safe. Always available.
- Pickman's thank you note - In Pickman's safe. Only available if Pickman was saved from the raiders.
Notes[]
- Twelve of Pickman's paintings are on display in the building. The first ten paintings are in the room to the immediate left of the entrance on the first floor, the eleventh painting is in the kitchen on the first floor, and the final painting is in the first room of the basement. The paintings were painted in the blood of Pickman's victims; a can of blood can be found in front of the "all-seeing eye" painting in the basement.
Companion comments[]
- When at this location, companions make comments, which are activated in the first room on the left with the paintings, and in the basement near the pile of corpses.
| Location comments | |
|---|---|
| Character | Comment |
| Cait | "I don't know, I kind of like these paintin's. Feels good knowin' someone out there is more miserable than me." |
| Codsworth | "Ghastly. I hope these weren't based off experience." |
| Curie | "For medical research, autopsy and the study of the human body is important. But this... this is sick." |
| Danse | "The artist of these portraits was apparently suffering from some serious mental anguish." |
| Deacon | "Look at the brush work. And the bold use of color. Oh, and how bat shit crazy the painter was. Don't forget that." |
| John Hancock | "See, this is why I got no taste for art." |
| Nick Valentine | "What kind of monster could think this is art?" |
| Piper Wright | "Oh, are these abstra... Oh god." |
| Preston Garvey | "Something was seriously wrong with whoever painted these." |
| Robert MacCready | "Oh, great. Thanks for the nightmare fuel." |
| X6-88 | "I've used some of these techniques." |
Appearances[]
The Pickman Gallery appears only in Fallout 4.
Behind the scenes[]
- Both Pickman and the Gallery are references to the short story "Pickman's Model" by H.P. Lovecraft. Like Pickman in Fallout 4, Richard Upton Pickman is an artist who uses real-world models to paint horrifying artwork. His home in Boston's North End contains a cellar that he used as a studio. This cellar is connected to an ancient network of tunnels that early residents of the neighborhood used to get between houses and where many odd happenings occurred.
- Pickman Gallery is located on the northeast edge of Boston, adjacent to Cabot House. There are other locations further out in the northeast Commonwealth named Dunwich and Kingsport, also Lovecraft references.
- Codsworth's comment on hoping the paintings were not inspired by experience may be a nod to the original story, in which the horrific creatures in the artist's paintings were revealed to be drawn from life.
- The plungers and bloody handprints found in the bathroom on the first floor are likely a reference to the iconic "plunger room of death" from Fallout 3.
Bugs[]
If Hancock is a companion when attempting to complete his quest Art Appreciation, the dialogue option to complete the quest will be locked. A workaround is to temporarily remove Hancock as a companion, then talk to him again. Hancock will remark that when he offered the quest, he did not mean that he should be taken to the Gallery. The player character will then be rewarded with caps, and the quest will complete.[verified]- Sometimes the red entrance door to the Gallery won't open, with no focus to open the door.[verified]
- Saving the game then reloading the save should allow the door to be opened.
Gallery[]
Paintings[]
References[]
Non-game
- ↑ Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide Collector's Edition p. 464: "ZONE 13: NEIGHBORHOOD: NORTH END
This residential neighborhood once boasted continuous residential inhabitants since 1630. Currently, it boasts a variety of crumbling brick and wooden structures, some of historical significance, and is anchored by the Old North Church and the culmination of the Freedom Trail. It is deep in the catacombs under this church that the Railroad faction has holed up. Otherwise, this relatively small but dense zone should be approached with relative care; roving bands of Super Mutants and Raiders have been seen, and there’s chatter regarding a fiendish serial killer who stalks the old alleyways after dark.
(Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide Map) - ↑ Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide Collector's Edition p. 466: "[13.01] PICKMAN GALLERY
A prolific serial killer stalks the alleys of North End and has recently been cornered in his lair by his prey of choice: Raiders. The rotting hulk of a row house Pickman calls home was chosen for its access to ancient subterrenean smuggler tunnels beneath North End. He displays pictures of his victims on the walls.
Inside the dwelling, his blood-splattered daubing and corpse sculptures show the type of lunatic Pickman is. He has left a message to Jack in the front room and Pickman's Calling Card on many corpses. Fight your way to the end of the smuggler's sewer.
(Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide Map)