miss olson by christina olson
A Falling Friend In the painting “Miss Olson,” Andrew Wyeth delivers another painting of one of his most famous models, Christina Olson. Wyeth grew up visiting Maine during his summers, where he met his wife Betsy Wyeth. It was from her that Wyeth would be introduced to the Olson family, specifically spending time with siblings Christina and Alvaro Olson. Through the years, many paintings of the Olson’s were worked on, but it was his captivating paintings of Christina Olson that would allow him to be recognized as not just another American artist. This is one of the many paintings showing Christina Olson, also being one of his later paintings during his life. The painting depicts her sitting on a chair, resting with a kitten on her chest while she sleeps. The darkness is self-evident, providing a setting to compliment the sadness that seems to be shown. With this painting, Wyeth is able to show a deeper meaning behind it, the state of Christina Olson herself, and the emotions the artist felt during the time. The dark setting and the little contrast of the painting leads me to think that Wyeth thought of Christina as a sad older woman slowly dying from polio. Just from the lack of distinction from the foreground to background, it could be told that the artist was trying to convey a certain mood. It was the lack of color and the subtle transitions in the tone that makes me think he was trying to convey to us that she had a very dull life and not a lot to do in her daily routine. The kitten also leads the viewer to believe that Christina does not have much time, told by the way the kitten is being grasped as if it is the only valuable piece of life left. Looking deeper into the picture the viewer is only able to see one empty clothes line hanging in the background, as it crosses the cracking and peeling walls, making it seem as if nothing could be a bother to the subject. At the point of Christina’s life that is shown in Wyeth’s painting, her suffering of