Analysis Of Christina's World By Andrew Wyeth

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 his artwork. Christina’s World features the back of a young woman laying in the fields, staring out at a building in 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 became more well-known after Alfred Barr, the director of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) , 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 trying to figure …show more content…
In that painting, Christina looks a bit better off as she is simply sitting by the door entrance, staring out into the green field. In contrast to Christina Olson, Christina’s World shows a completely different view of how Wyeth sees Christina. In the earlier painting, Wyeth’s interpretation of Christina is a bit more “alive”, featuring greener landscape and Christina sitting as if she is simply enjoying the nice weather. However, a year later, Wyeth’s Christina’s World is less optimistic, showing less lively colors of nature and actually shows Christina’s inability to move around efficiently. Perhaps one can say that Wyeth’s Christina’s World brings out a stronger, more obvious interpretation of the problems Christina faces and how she is seen to approach them through Wyeth’s perspective. Many researchers and art enthusiasts give their end of what they believed the painting stood for and the reason for Wyeth’s painting of Christina’s …show more content…
Schroeder, professor at the University of Minnesota believed that in Wyeth’s paintings, the subject presents itself as having the world to themselves, or in other words, a “world of themselves”. Schroeder considers Christina’s World slightly dramatic as Wyeth paints Christina considerably far away from the house. Christina is lying alone in an empty field with a posture showing the intent to reach the house in the distance. Christina shows dominance in the composition, but at the same time shows aloneness and detachment from other objects in the painting. From this perspective, one could argue that Wyeth’s main intention was to show Christina in her own world or “civilization” due to her illness that separates her from the rest of society. The long distance of the house and the other buildings from Christina shows abandonment and loneliness. It is as if Christina is trying really hard to get closer to the objects in the painting, or possibly even closer back to society. Christina’s posture shows her will to reach her destination, but at the same time showing her struggles and inability to get to her destination