Visit the Site of Andrew Wyeth's "Christina's World" Painting

In 1948, painter Andrew Wyeth looked out the window of a farmhouse in Cushing, Maine and watched Christina Olson - crippled by polio - crawl across a field. The painting that resulted from that moment of inspiration - "Christina's World" - is one of the most famous images in American art.

The farmhouse that looms at the top of the hill in the painting was a frequent subject of Wyeth's, as was Christina Olson. Today, the weathered gray farmhouse still stands, and is owned by the Farnsworth Art Museum in nearby Rockland, Maine. Art lovers, and those haunted or fascinated by the painting - can visit the site, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The farmhouse and its inhabitants - Christina Olson and her brother Alvaro - were sketched and painted repeatedly by Wyeth over the course of 30 years. They allowed him to set up a studio on the house's second floor and over the years he made more than 300 paintings of its rooms, the objects inside and the views from the windows.

The painting shows a young woman (modeled after Wyeth's wife Betsy rather than the 55-year old Christina) dragging her crippled frame across a golden field toward a stark gray farmhouse atop a distant hill.

"The challenge to me was to do justice to her extraordinary conquest of a life which most people would consider hopeless," Wyeth said of the painting and his portrayal of his friend Christina Olson.

When he completed "Christina's World," Wyeth said he thought it was "a complete flat tire." The Museum of Modern Art bought it for $1,800 and it almost immediately skyrocketed Wyeth to fame. It remains among the most popular pieces in the MoMA collection.

In the early 1990s the Olson House was donated to the Farnsworth Art Museum, which provides access to the public. The Farnsworth was an early buyer of Wyeth works and maintained a long association with the painter and his family.

Visitors can tour the house and the grounds. Wyeth's small upstairs studio is open, and guests can experience the effect of Maine light pouring through the window. At nearly every turn, there's a sight familiar to fans of Wyeth's work - a window where sheer curtains once blew in the breeze, the peaked roofline overlooking a saltwater cove.

The Olson House is located on Hathorne Point Road in Cushing, Maine, less than 10 miles off U.S. Route 1 near the coastal town of Thomaston. It is open daily from June through October, but is closed on Mondays. Admission is $10 for adults and $8 for students 17 and older. Children 16 and under are admitted for free. Tours are offered on the hour from noon to 4pm.