Christina's World
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| Artist | Andrew Wyeth |
|---|---|
| Year | 1948[1] |
| Type | Tempera on gessoed panel[1] |
| Dimensions | 81.9 cm × 121.3 cm (32¼ in × 47¾ in) |
| Location | Museum of Modern Art, New York City |
Christina's World is a 1948 painting by American painter Andrew Wyeth, and one of the best-known American paintings of the middle 20th century. It depicts a woman lying on the ground in a treeless, mostly tawny field, looking up at and crawling towards a gray house on the horizon; a barn and various other small outbuildings are adjacent to the house.[1]
This tempera work, done in a realist style, is currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, as a part of their permanent collection.[1] As of July 2010, the work is displayed outside of the main galleries in an "interstitial space" near the restrooms on the fifth floor.
[edit] Background
The woman in the painting is Christina Olson (May 3, 1893 — January 27, 1968). She suffered from polio, a muscular deterioration that paralyzed her lower body. Wyeth was inspired to create the painting when through a window from within the house he saw her crawling across a field. Wyeth had a summer home in the area and was on friendly terms with Olson, using her and her younger brother as the subject of paintings from 1940 to 1968.[2] Although Olson was the inspiration and subject of the painting, she was not the primary model — Wyeth's wife Betsy posed as the torso of the painting.[2] Olson was 55 at the time Wyeth created the work.[2]
The house depicted in the painting is known as the Olson House, and is located in Cushing, Maine. It is open to the public as a part of the Farnsworth Museum complex[3]; it is a National Historic Landmark, and has been restored to match its appearance in the painting.[citation needed] In the painting, Wyeth separated the house from its barn and changed the lay of the land.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Christina's World in the MoMA Online Collection
- ^ a b c Corliss, Richard (1986-08-18). "Andrew Wyeth's Stunning Secret". Time. http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,962060,00.html. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
- ^ "The Olson House". Farnsworth Museum. http://www.farnsworthmuseum.org/olson-house.
