Seldom do I pay much attention to paintings. Not exactly cultured and probably can’t tell the difference between a Monet or a Renoir. But once in a while, by some coincidence, I’m drawn to some work of art and curiosity sets in…
The above is a painting is titled “Christina's World”. It is not another painting of a pretty girl rolling around in an open field.
It is a painting by Andrew Wyeth of Christina Olson. Christina was born in 1893 and died in 1968. She lived most of her life with her brother in that house on the hill. Christina suffered from an undiagnosed muscular deterioration that paralysed her lower body.
*She is depicted dragging herself across the field picking flowers. How do you feel….pity?
She needed no pity! This disability did not stop her and she excelled in many skills including sewing, sailing, and even horse riding. When she was 19, Christina met and fell in love with a young man who was studying at Harvard. They were together for five years, that was before he said “She can row a boat, climb a tree, harness a horse, and drive a carriage. She outshines me in everything!”
He then went off and married another young woman.
*PostScript
Wikipedia mentions that Christina was "dragging herself across the ground to pick flowers from her garden." This is incorrect. Christina was in fact dragging herself back up from the cemetery, where her parents were buried.
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