Christina's World

Andrew Wyeth depicted his neighbor Christina Olson crawling across a dry grass field toward her family's farmhouse on the Maine coast. Christina had a degenerative muscle condition that left her unable to walk, yet she refused to use a wheelchair, instead dragging herself across the land she loved.

The painting captures a complex mixture of vulnerability and determination. Christina's twisted posture and thin arms suggest fragility, while her position gazing toward the distant house implies resolve. Wyeth worked in egg tempera, building the image through countless tiny brushstrokes that create the texture of dry brown grass and weathered wood.

The Museum of Modern Art in New York acquired the painting in 1949, where it became one of the most recognized images in American art.