The surprising inspiration for Andrew Wyeth’s Christina’s World

Jonathan Byrd

Imagine you’re a painter. Beyond needing natural talent, hard work, and technique, how do you find a subject? If you’re Andrew Wyeth, creator of the famous 1948 painting Christina’s World (below), you get lucky, kind of, in that your subject passes by.

“[Christina Olson’s] parents were buried in [a nearby] graveyard, and she would drag herself down there to see them. And one day, [Wyeth] saw her out the window doing that and he was intrigued and inspired to paint her.”

Christina Baker Kline took that story and a lot of research and wrote her latest novel, A Piece of the World. Tune in to hear why this book was harder to write than her bestselling novel Orphan Train and what insights she’ll give when she’s guest author on Thursday, February 23 with the Thurber House.

 

Christinas World

Christina’s World

By http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=78455, Fair use, Link

About Doug Dangler

Current: Host of Craft on WCBE, 90.5 FM, central Ohio's NPR station. Former: creator, host, and producer of Writers Talk
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