# christina's world ![[christinasworld.jpg|300]] artist: andrew wyeth year: 1948 catalogue: 78455 medium: egg tempera on gessoed panel dimensions: 81.9 cm × 121.3 cm (32+1⁄4 in × 47+3⁄4 in) location: museum of modern art new york accession: 16.1949 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 in new york the woman in the painting is anna christina olson (may 3 1893 - january 27 1968.) anna had a degenerative muscular disorder possibly polio or charcot-marie-tooth disorder which left ir unable to walk. they was firmly against using a wheelchair so would crawl everywhere. wyeth was inspired to create the painting when ey saw ir crawling across a field while ey was watching from a window in the house. ey had a summer home in the area and was on friendly terms with olson using ir younger brother and ir as the subjects of paintings from 1940 to 1968. olson was the inspiration and subject of the painting but they was not the primary model; wyeth's wife betsy posed as the torso of the painting. olson was 55 at the time that 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 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 museum of modern art (moma) bought the painting for $1-800 (equivalent to $18-200 in 2023 dollars.) ey 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 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'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. the painting is however part of the sci-fi film oblivion (2013) paying homage to the novel the life of olson and ir 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 and a chapter in the 2020 video garme the last of us part ii were inspired by the painting the painting is also referenced in the 2020 film i'm thinking of ending things a season-four episode of the tv series atlanta 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 (2016-2022.) showrunner jonathan nolan has at least once mentioned christina's world as a "reference" for the show's character dolores abernathy. evan rachel wood 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 **+** turnbull richard. "brown bag lunch lecture: popular favorites and critical disdain: from pavel tchelitchew's hide-and-seek to andrew wyeth's christina's world." museum of modern art **+** meryman richard (may 14 1965.) "andrew wyeth: an interview." life. pp. 92-120 - via google books // republic of bob