Christina's World

I love this painting.

I love this painting so much I want to share it with some of you. Over the years I have been able to discover new images surrounding it's creation and it's subject- Christina Olson. I've spent hours upon hours reading pretentious Art Critic essays/thesis/reviews that bored the shit out of me, so you don't have to. I usually find that if a piece of art moves me, that's all that matters, not some art critic's bullshit. This painting moved me from the first time I saw it in an art book in college, I don't know why or how - it just did, maybe it was the composition that knocked me out? I don't know. So this post will most likely be filled with bullet points and pictures only, and maybe a rambling paragraph or two depending on my mood...but most of all, pictures.

Let's get the first bit of rambling out of the way.

Living in Southern California makes it kinda difficult to visit the museums in New York City that I love so much. As luck would have it,  I found myself there last year for business.  I was working New York Comic Con so I tried to schedule in some museum/gallery time during our 1 day off. My number one priority was to view Gustav Klimt's: Adele Bloch-Bauer I at the Neue Galerie. 

I have never seen this painting in person and being a huge Klimt fan, I was looking forward to the opportunity of standing in front of it and losing my shit...it's one of my favorite paintings of all time.

Gustav Klimt Adele Bloch-Bauer I 1907

Oil, Gold & Silver on Canvas 54" x 54" 

But it wasn't meant to be...the fucking gallery was closed on the one day we had free. I was devastated. That meant I'd have to wait until I made my way to New York again...

Luckily my coworker wanted to visit MoMA and see a few favorite paintings, Van Gogh's: The Starry Night & Andrew Wyeth's: Christina's World...which I had totally forgotten was in their collection. I also remembered that they had a gorgeous Klimt painting in their collection, so I guess it wasn't going to be a bad day after all.

Gustav Klimt Hope II 1907-08

Oil, Gold & Platinum on Canvas 43 1/2" x 43 1/2"

The last time I had seen Christina's World was in 1998, so I was really excited to see it again. Unfortunately, my excitement quickly turned to frustration once I found myself in front of the painting. Let me just say, the location of the painting sucks. I hate that they have it displayed in what is basically the walkway that surrounds the escalators. It doesn't provide you with space to stand and admire the painting without a parade of people walking in front of you on their way to one of the gallery rooms. So I waited for my moment and took a few photos as best I could, trying not to capture any fat heads or glares etc.

Andrew Wyeth Christina's World 1948

Tempera on panel, 32 1/4" x 47 3/4"

Simply put it's a masterpiece of what is called: 'Magic Realism', "which is a genre of narrative fiction and more broadly, art (painting) that, while encompassing a range of subtly different concepts, expresses a primarily realistic view of the real world while also adding magical elements" (thank you Wikipedia for watered down definition). 

I've collected a series of images that show the creation of Christina's World, and other paintings that Wyeth produced of Christina in her later years that I'd like to share...enjoy.

Alvaro Olson (Christina's brother) & Andrew Wyeth

This photograph was taken by Betsy James, whom Andrew met in 1939 while visiting Maine, and would eventually marry. It was Betsy who introduced Andrew to Alvaro Olson and his sister Christina, whom she had known since she was 10 years old. 

Anna Christina Olson & Katie (Hathorn) Olson

This is a photograph of Christina and her mother taken in 1918, shortly after Christina's trip to Boston where she learned more about her increasing disability. She suffered from Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, and was told that her condition would never improve. 

This is the first watercolor study that Wyeth did of the Olson house. It is said that Christina watched from the window and was amused to see Wyeth sitting on top of his car painting a picture of her house.

Another watercolor study of the Olson house.

 

More studies/paintings of the Olson house in Wyeth's muted earth tone palette, with the altering of the actual landscape to create a better composition.

Pencil studies: The arms and hands are Christina's but the body is Betsy's; the dress was from Christina's closet; the shoe from the Wyeth house and the hair is based on the memory of his aunt's. 

Nine years after meeting the Olson's, Wyeth spent the summer of 1948 in an upstairs room of the Olson House painting Christina's World. It is said he worked on that painting for weeks from eight o'clock in the morning until five-thirty in the evening. Working in the Olson house, Wyeth became very close to Alvaro & Christina and had a deep admiration for her determination and enduring nature. This was a woman who limited use of her legs and could not walk, so she dragged herself around the house doing the cooking and cleaning and never complained. Her respect and approval mattered deeply and he was worried what her reaction would be to the painting. 

Well, Alvaro and Christina were invited over to the Wyeth's home for dinner one evening, where the painting hung over the couch...ignored throughout dinner. When Andrew and Christina were alone he asked her what she thought and she raised her fingers to her mouth in a hushing motion. Wyeth would go on to paint many more of Christina, but she would always say that this one was her favorite.

Wyeth displayed Christina's World in 1937 at Macbeth Gallery as part of his one-man exhibition of watercolors. The exhibit was a success, but Christina's World received little attention from critics at the time which caused Wyeth to become deeply depressed and view the work as a complete failure. But Alfred Barr, the founding director of MoMA, thought differently and bought it in December 1948 for $1800 and hung it a show titled: American Paintings from the Museum Collection. It has become one of the most famous paintings in the museum's history and an icon of American art, and as a result, is rarely loaned out.

The following group of images are sketches, studies and photographs of Christina, for the other paintings that Wyeth would do of her prior to her death. Some amazing works.

Christina sitting in front of her window.

Christina and Andrew

Study for Christina's first portrait

Study for Christina's first portrait

Door study for Christina's first portrait

Hair study for Christina's first portrait

Final portrait painting

Andrew, Alvaro & Christina in the kitchen

Christina's cat, study for Miss Olson

Miss Olson painting 1952

Andrew, Alvaro & Christina in the kitchen

Christina in the kitchen

Christina Haircut

Christina

Pencil study

Pencil study

Color study

Christina looking at photographs that Betsy took.

Rough color study for a portrait

Various portrait studies

This would be the final portrait of Christina before she died, titled Anna Christina

(May 3, 1893 - January 27, 1968)

Wyeth paid tribute to Alvaro and Christina with this final painting, it's a portrait of sorts. Alvaro is represented by his blueberry basket and Christina is represented by the scrap of her pink dress, that she wore in the painting Christina's World. This is also one of my favorite Andrew Wyeth paintings of all time. It's a wonderful memory of his two friends.

Wyeth's sketch of Christina's grave the day before her funeral.

It seems fitting that Wyeth is buried here, at the Olson house with Christina.

Alvaro and Christina

The house as it appears today.

Well that's it for now, hope I didn't bore you too much...