The Story Behind "Christina's World"
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2024
- A bite-sized documentary short about the story behind the 1948 painting “Christina’s World” by American painter Andrew Wyeth.
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I remember seeing this painting in one of my moms coffee-table books when I was a child and staring at it for a long time, not quite understanding but knowing something was wrong with her. I remember my mom came out of my peripheral and told me “she can’t walk, she’s sick and her legs don’t work” and being shocked. It filled me with a sense of frustration and bitter longing, so child me decided she didn’t like the painting bc it made her sad.
Now I look back and feel the same pang of empathy and sadness. I know she’s long dead, but I want to wish her well. She touched my childish heart.
You have a very beautiful view of things
This is why i love art that teĺls a story. This is probably the only record of this poor woman and her unbelievable struggle. I wish i knew all the stories behind every portrait or landscape i see in thrift stores and antique shops
Art that will have a longest lasting impact is art that can invoke sense of humanity, compassion, empathy or allow you to experience another perspective.
That is why art so fundamentally essential in our world, in our society, are mental health.
To use a well-known phrase
"Art should disturb the comfortable and comfort the Disturbed"
Being disabled myself I feel the struggle behind Olson’s crawling. My mind works slow with cerebral palsy but able to be adventurous every now and then lightens my spirits.
I remember in elementary school my art teacher told us that the "story" of the painting was that this girl couldn't walk, but still wanted to be outside, so her father would carry her out there to lay down in the sun. Apparently she was looking back to the farmhouse and calling for her dad to get her back. Now I'm wonder where she got that information 😭
I remember this painting when I was a child. It haunted me, I couldn't understand it,but I never forgot it.
This is definitely one of my most beloved paintings.. it's how I kinda feel with my invisible disabilities.. ik others have it way worse but this year has been particularly tough with many a rude, intolerable and indifferently towards me and what I'm trying to say.
It's like some people love seeing others struggle. I'm so exhausted emotionally, mentally, physically, spiritually.., I wish I had the will power to see beyond the vast field
Maybe someday :''').
You are what is beyond the vast field. ❤
Wyeth is buried near where she’s crawling. Actual location looks very different.
It’s also a painting of his recently deceased father. The house and Christina are in Maine, but the hill they are on is in PA. He mixed the locations.
The details on the hands is amazing they look worn leathery and calloused
Beautiful painting. One of my favorites ❤❤❤❤❤❤
My favorite painting. It hung behind my Dad's desk at the University library where he worked. He explained it to me when I told him how it struck me and I asked if I could have it. The
University declined my request and I've been chasing an embrace with Christina ever since.
My sister's in a wheelchair and I never knew the story behind this painting , Thank you 🥰 beautiful 🥺🥹
I never knew that was the origin story. Wow❤
I have this painting hanging in my dorm room, wonderful piece and my favorite Wyeth, although most who visit me find it melancholic I think there’s something inspiring about it
The last Rhythm project is an insane social experiment. You can literally see tears fill her eyes. Not to mention the crowd of people at all times. Even with those factors she was unclothed and physically harmed. Took a gun for people to stop someone. She’s insane to give us this opportunity to view this experience. It’s crazy to think about what goes through others minds that’s strong enough for them to take action.
I’ll never forget the first time I saw this painting as a child I got goosebumps. I found it so relatable and still do.
It was easier to maneuver in the world without a wheelchair. Remember, the Americans with Disabilities Act wasn't made federal law until the 1990's. Look at the terrain she had to maneuver, it would have been a nightmare for a wheelchair, especially one from the time period.
I wish I didn't have an invisible mental illness. 😢 I've had a terrible year and feel hopeless!
Good point
I think I first saw this in my 6th grade art history class.
Never forgot it.
❤
The pose also reminds me of one in Buster Keaton’s one week, where they’re staring back at the wreckage of their house after the train hits. I had thought there was something frantic about her body language, as if she’d just seen or heard something terrible had happened back home and was just in the act of scrabbling up and running to help. Now I know the truth it’s a relief to know everything’s going just fine!😂
I was so excited to share this with my Art appreciation class. I have put your channel has a link on our course page and allow my students to use you as an informal source when creating their research presentations. Especially for Louis Wain. There is so little context for his art outside of psychology journals.
It is a beautiful painting. My body became this painful painting...
Beautiful
Is it art?
Yes. It is art.
absolutely outstanding Short BD.. thank you so much for it
Had she used a wheelchair she wouldn't even _be_ in that field. Wheelchairs back than didn't have over roading abilities like some of them do today. So, by her choosing to not use a wheelchair _she_ could go & be in places where many others in similar situations could only dream of. Good for her for doing her own thing. We only get this _one life,_ best to live it however you wish.
Yeah very true, and I feel it’s significant that the rough looking cart-track lines to the house are clearly visible sloping off to the right, and it’s got quite a slope. Like showing the restricted life she’d rejected in favour of vast grassy acres of freedom.
a large print of this painting is hung up in my art classroom. i've looked at it every day trying to make up a story that could explain the woman in the field
Great to see you making shorts now. I have enjoyed your content since you made your Francis Bacon videos. Keep up the good work!
Will you eventually do a full video on Andrew Wyeth? His paintings are so fascinating and I think he would benefit from a full analysis
I know this art because of that episode in the Atlanta show
This is one of my all time favorite pieces of art
I remember that when i saw it upclose there was a litle black spot that looked like a blanket taken by the wind in the middle of the painting
This painting is peaceful
I wonder if this painting served as a source of inspiration for the "Gillespie house" from the orignal Silent Hill. Looks like the same field in the PS1 intro
Damn, even in her 50s, Christina got that cake. 💯
fun fact: The farmhouse was the inspiration for SILENT HILL 1. Alessa's home.
I had trouble processing why on earth a person would refuse an assistive device, something meant to make your difficult situation easier. barring the actual woman's choices and simply interpreting the painting on it's own, I can't help but feel like there's this deeply sad message about what our society teaches us about needing help. this distant yet representatively idyllic american homestead so incredibly far away from her to crawl, yet she does it anyway, it's her future, it's her focal point in the piece. would needing a wheelchair be so awful? would needing help be such a crime if she didn't need to crawl, all alone, with no help at all? Apparently, as she has nothing and nobody but some distant, ideal on the horizon, the world says yes.
Sidenote- I theorize that Robert Zemeckis was paying homage to this painting in Forrest Gump, when Jenny is throwing rocks at her house and falls. Check it out. Maybe I'm reaching.
However, if she used a wheelchair back then, she wouldn’t be able to be in that field at all… the ancient wheelchair wouldn’t have made it in that terrain. Imagine how strong she was… mentally and physically. I’m almost positive one of her reasons was she didn’t want pity… I feel nothing but respect for her determination.
A friend of mine, took off the wheels of his wheelchair and added shocks and bigger wheels with tread (idk what kind of wheels and idk all of the mechanics he used), but it worked… he was able to go to the beach with me one day… he had a time getting through the sand but he did it.. he was sore the next morning though. 😂
❤❤❤
Wow.
Why do you go by Blind Dweller?
So, I am a wheelchair dependent single mom as well as a disability educator and activist. It's generally seen as noble or strong to refuse to accept your disability--we write stories and make movies about it. Give me a movie where one of the lead characters is profoundly disabled and doesn't kill themselves to free their loved ones by the end of the movie.
Go on. I'll wait.
If you have any interest (you should, someone you love WILL become disabled in your lifetime, even if only by time and age) look up the social model of disability. Things such as inclusive design and companies thinking more broadly in their hiring practices can make a world of difference when it comes to inclusion and normalization of people with disabilities.
Rafiki from lion king. Theres probably more but i dont know your criteria
I mean to be fair, self sacrifice is pretty common in fiction. Its not just relegated to disabled characters but often interesting characters happen to be disabled. But them being disabled doesn't usually have anything to do with the reason why they're sacrificing themselves. Its just what needs to happen at that point in the story, and its not really a sacrifice if they're not valuable. So its not like "oh just sacrifice the disabled guy its fine no big deal" it leaves a hole in the lives of the other characters.
Hector salamanca, Tyrion Lannister, Bran Stark?
Also it’s gouache, which I think is interesting
It’s egg tempera.
Look closely at her hands, he is telling a huge part of the story with them
Jenny in Forrest Gump after throwing rocks at her abusive childhood home
Okay she thanks you I don't know where I'm going to castle ow,
Beautiful sound gone at a great heavenly time.
Who says no to a wheelchair id rather crawl on the dirty ground and preserve my dignity?
ok but why not just roll around everywhere? you dont need legs for that... crawling? why
love the art, narration is weird
Why constrict someone to live life how society wants you to.
Gutter mentality ✅🤟⚡️⚡️⚡️
I personally dont believe this is worth millions
Yeah it's worth billions
@@airplanes_aren.t_real 👏🏾👌🏿
Good thing your opinion doesn’t actually change the worth of a famous artwork LMAOO what’s next, you don’t think the Mona Lisa is worth anything, because you said so? 😂
@@ducky19991 he's allowed to have an opinion. besides the insane price of art is usually a money laundering scheme
Well said ducky, so many people think they are the center of the universe lol