''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. It is held by the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, in New York.World''
/ref>

Background

The woman in the painting is Anna Christina Olson (May 3, 1893 – January 27, 1968). Anna had a degenerative muscular disorder, possibly

polio Poliomyelitis ( ), commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 75% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe ...

or Charcot-Marie-Tooth disorder, which left her unable to walk. 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. 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. It is a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

and has been restored to match its appearance in the painting, 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. It received little attention from critics at the time, but Alfred Barr, the founding director of the

(MoMA), bought the painting for $1,800 (equivalent to $ in 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.

In popular culture

In Arthur C. Clarke's novel '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'', ''Christina's World'' is one of the two paintings (the other one being

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...

's '' Bridge at Arles'') hanging on the living room wall of "an elegant, anonymous hotel suite" to which the astronaut David Bowman is transported after passing through the Star Gate. It does not appear in the film adaptation directed by

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...

. The painting is, however, part of the sci-fi film '' Oblivion'' (2013), paying homage to the novel. The life of Olson and her encounter with Wyeth is portrayed in the novel ''A Piece of the World'' by Christina Baker Kline. A scene in the 1994 film ''

Forrest Gump ''Forrest Gump'' is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis. An adaptation of the Forrest Gump (novel), 1986 novel by Winston Groom, the screenplay of the film is written by Eric Roth. It stars Tom Hanks in the title rol ...

'' and a chapter in the 2020 video game '' The Last of Us Part II'' were inspired by the painting. The painting is also referred to in the 2020 film '' I'm Thinking of Ending Things'', a season-four episode of the TV series ''

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

'', a Madeline Johnston song of the same name, and Ethel Cain's music video for the 2022 song "American Teenager". The painting appears several times throughout HBO's ''

Westworld ''Westworld'' is an American science fiction dystopia media franchise that began with the Westworld (film), 1973 film ''Westworld'', written and directed by Michael Crichton. The film depicts a technologically advanced Wild West, Wild-West-th ...

'' (2016–2022). Showrunner

Jonathan Nolan Jonathan Jensen Nolan (born 6 June 1976) is a British and American screenwriter and producer. He is the creator of the CBS science fiction series '' Person of Interest'' (2011–2016) and of the HBO science fiction/Western series ''Westworld'' ...

has at least once mentioned ''Christina's World'' as a "reference" for the show's character Dolores Abernathy.

Evan Rachel Wood Evan Rachel Wood (born September 7, 1987) is an American actress. She is the recipient of a Critics' Choice Television Award as well as nominations for three Primetime Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. She began acting in the 1990s, a ...

, who plays Dolores in seasons 1–3, reappears in season 4 as a character named "Christina". The painting appears in the 2011 movie '' A Separation'' by Asghar Farhadi as a decorative piece inside the house where most of the movie takes place. 5 minutes and 50 seconds into "Raid", the tenth episode of the animated series ''Common Side Effects'' (2025), Jonas Backstein finds himself taking Christina's place in a grim imitation of ''Christina's World''. The sky is a stormy, foreboding red, and the Olsen House has been replaced by a darkened Swiss chalet. The painting (altered) is shown in several episodes of Amazon Prime's Invincible (2021-), at the home Atom Eve grew up in, but this rendition of the painting is without Olson's figure depicted in the landscape. The music video for "Party 4 U" by English singer

Charli XCX Charlotte Emma Aitchison (born 2 August 1992), known professionally as Charli XCX, is a British singer and songwriter. She began posting songs on Myspace in 2008 before entering the London rave scene. Signing a recording contract with Asylum Re ...

features a reference to this painting, with a similarly framed shot of Charli making a similar pose.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Christina's World 1948 paintings Paintings by Andrew Wyeth Paintings in the Museum of Modern Art (New York City) Women in art