Christina's World

Christina's World
ArtistAndrew Wyeth
Year1948[1]
Catalogue78455
MediumEgg tempera on gessoed panel[1]
Dimensions81.9 cm × 121.3 cm (32+1⁄4 in × 47+3⁄4 in)[1]
LocationMuseum of Modern Art, New York
Accession16.1949

Christina's World is a 1948 painting by American painter Andrew Wyeth and one of the best-known American paintings of the mid-20th century. It is a tempera work done in a realist style, depicting a woman in an inclined position on the ground in a treeless, mostly tawny field, looking up at a gray house on the horizon, a barn, and various other small outbuildings adjacent to the house.[1] It is held by the Museum of Modern Art, in New York.[1]

The painting was featured in the 1980 BBC Two series 100 Great Paintings.

Background

The woman in the painting is Anna Christina Olson (May 3, 1893 – January 27, 1968). Anna had a degenerative muscular disorder, possibly polio or Charcot-Marie-Tooth disorder, which left her unable to walk.[1] She was firmly against using a wheelchair, so she would crawl everywhere. Wyeth was inspired to create the painting when he saw her crawling across a field while he was watching from a window in the house. He had a summer home in the area, and was on friendly terms with Olson, using her younger brother and her as the subjects of paintings from 1940 to 1968. Olson was the inspiration and subject of the painting, but she was not the primary model; Wyeth's wife Betsy posed as the torso of the painting. Olson was 55 at the time Wyeth created the work.[2]

The house depicted in the painting is known as the Olson House in Cushing, Maine, and is open to the public, operated by the Farnsworth Art Museum.[3] It is a National Historic Landmark and has been restored to match its appearance in the painting,[4][5][6] although Wyeth separated the house from its barn and changed the lay of the land for the painting. Wyeth is buried in the nearby Olson family graveyard.

Reception and history

Christina's World was first exhibited at the Macbeth Gallery in Manhattan in 1948.[7] It received little attention from critics at the time, but Alfred Barr, the founding director of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), bought the painting for $1,800 (equivalent to $18,700 in 2024 dollars). He promoted it at MoMA, and it gradually grew in popularity. Today, it is considered an icon of American art and is rarely lent out by the museum.[8][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Christina's World
  2. ^ Corliss, Richard (1986-08-18). "Andrew Wyeth's Stunning Secret". Time. Retrieved 2008-01-19.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  3. ^ "The Olson House". Farnsworth Museum. Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
  4. ^ Museum, Farnsworth (June 2, 2016). "Olson House and Farnsworth Homestead Open for Season". www.freepressonline.com. The Free Press. Retrieved October 28, 2016. The house's exterior woodwork was restored...
  5. ^ Mena, Tim (January 12, 2016). "Christina's World: CUSHING, ME ~ Mid-18th Century". www.longleaflumber.com. Long Leaf Lumber. Retrieved October 28, 2016. multimillion-dollar renovation projects ... extensive renovations at the Olson House
  6. ^ Ernest, Dagney C. (May 20, 2016). "Olson House lecture details year-long effort". knox.villagesoup.com. Village Soup. Retrieved October 28, 2016. the restoration of the house's exterior woodwork ...
  7. ^ Kimmelman, Michael (January 16, 2009). "Andrew Wyeth, Painter, Dies at 91". The New York Times. Retrieved May 5, 2012.
  8. ^ Esaak, Shelley. "Christina's World by Andrew Wyeth". About.com. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  9. ^ Baker Kline, Christina (January 20, 2020). "Shelving 'Christina's World'". The Boston Globe. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
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