Andrew Wyeth Christina's World

In this paper, American artist Andrew Wyeth’s painting “Christina’s World” will be discussed and analyzed in an attempt to understand the meaning behind this art piece. Christina’s World features the back of a young woman laying in the fields staring out at a building into the distance.The painting was initially displayed at the Macbeth Gallery located in Manhattan after its completion in 1948, but had yet to receive attention from people around the world. The painting become more well-known after Alfred Barr, the director of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) at the time, purchased the painting and opened an exhibit for Christina’s World in MoMA. After being well publicized, the painting quickly became the topic for discussion where people were

From what research shows, Christina seems to be paralyzed from the waist down due to an undiagnosed, degenerative muscular disorder that she contracted in the 1920s. Christina was one of the exceptional few models that maintained a long-term connection with Wyeth, who studied Christina for more than 28 years until her death in 1968. Christina’s condition inspired Wyeth to direct this focus his focus on trying to show Christina’s condition to the world through his artwork. His level of detail and simplicity allows the audience to initially focus on the light pink dress on Christina then directing their attention towards the house at the top of the hill, where Christina is looking towards. Wyeth gives the audience a mysterious feeling when he decided to paint the back of Christina, avoiding any facial features that makes the audience wonder the age of the model, or whether she was considered “beautiful” using the beauty standards in that time period. Without a “face”, the audience focuses more on the model’s posture and the general environment surrounding

However, this scene of Christina was not necessary “real” and it was a scene that Wyeth pictured and drew out. The body figure of the model is not fully representing the physical appearance of Christina Olson, such as the head and torso, but rather those of Wyeth’s wife Betsy. Wyeth incorporated Betsy’s head and torso to Christina’s pink dress and limbs for the painting. Wyeth used egg tempera as the painting medium to produce fine details for the strands of the model’s hair and grass. Wyeth’s use of colors are very minimum, with nothing too bright or extreme. The skies and the house are in shades of gray while the grass is a drying brown color and the dress is in a very light shade of fading pink. From initial looks, this painting looks rather depressing and lacks “life” in nature. The main focus of life is Christina, who is physically disabled and on the ground helplessly. Wyeth’s use of an uneven sky shows the field is uneven, possibly a hill and Christina is on the floor crawling to house that is on the top of the hill. Christina’s hands are painted in a climbing or crawling position while her legs are laying on the side, showing the inability to move her legs and the need of her hands to help her reach the house on the top of the hill. By the gloomy colors and position of Christina’s body, it can be assumed that Wyeth feels sympathetic towards Christina. The lack