– Andrew WyethĪnna Christina is Wyeth’s last portrait of Christina Olson. limited physically but by no means spiritually. The challenge to me was to do justice to her extraordinary conquest of a life which most people would consider hopeless. The house and remnants left abandoned in their wake struck Wyeth as symbolic of the lives they lived-the shadowy Alvaro, who only posed for Wyeth once and remained always in the background as Wyeth painted in the Olson house and, by contrast, the brilliant, captivating Christina. Alvaro died on Christmas night, 1967, and Christina, without him, died only weeks later. Wyeth considered this painting of the two entrances to her home a double portrait of the siblings, Alvaro and Christina Olson. When first introduced to the Olson siblings, Andrew was initially taken with Alvaro and painted his portrait before he become focused on the indomitable Christina. – Andrew WyethĮven in death, Andrew continued to draw inspiration from Christina through her house and the objects that had defined her. If I have anything to offer, it is my emotional contact with the place where I live and the people I do. I think one’s art goes as far and as deep as one’s love goes. Her tenacity and intelligence captivated Andrew Wyeth and their friendship blossomed easily. Rather, she used her upper body to pull herself through the fields and house where she lived and worked. As Betsy explains it, “The key to the Olson pictures is Andy’s relationship with Christina-absolutely at ease with him.” Christina Olson, a New-England native, refused a wheelchair for much of her life, despite being without the use of her legs.
He would paint Christina every summer in Cushing, Maine for the next 20 years until her death in January, 1968. ―Andrew WyethĪndrew Wyeth met Christina Olson through his wife Betsy and first painted her in 1947. At the time, I thought she looked like a wounded seagull with her bony arms, slightly long hair back over her shoulder, and strange shadows of her cast on the side of the weathered door, which had this white porcelain knob on it. She had finished all her work in the kitchen and there she was sitting quietly, with a far-off look to the sea. One day I came in and saw on the back door step in the late afternoon.
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