Andrew Wyeth's Christina's World Donn Saylor 1In 1948, American artist Andrew Wyeth unveiled his painting Christina’s World. The painting shows a woman in a field. Her face is turned away from the artist, and she is crawling across the pasture. She is making her way toward an old farmhouse, which is visible in the distance. 2Wyeth created the scene using tempera. Tempera is an Italian word with Latin origins. It comes from the Latin temperare, which means "to mix." Tempera is paint made by mixing dye and a binding material. Egg yolks are commonly used as a binder in tempera paint. The image was painted on a flat panel covered with gesso. Gesso is a powdered, chalk-like substance that artists mix with glue. They often use it as a first coat of paint before they apply tempera paints. The word gesso comes from the Italian word for "chalk." 3The woman shown in Christina’s World appears rather young, but in real life, the subject was a middle-aged woman. Wyeth, who lived in the Maine countryside, looked out his window one day and saw his neighbor crawling across the pasture. Many think that the woman suffered from a disease called polio, but no one knows for sure. Whether she was or was not ill, she was unable move her body from the waist down, which is why she had to pull herself across the field by her arms. Similarly, the woman pictured in Wyeth's painting has some sort of illness that has affected her muscles. 4Most of the colors used to create Christina’s World are earth tones. The field is a shade of gold, the farmhouse is dark gray, and the sky is cloudy ash gray. The subject’s dress is very light pink and is the brightest spot in the whole scene. This splash of color shows how bold and strong the woman in the field is even though her world seems rather lonely and difficult. 5Christina’s World is a very moving work of art. The painting of a lone figure in a barren field presents an image of great struggle. The woman appears to be making her way to the farmhouse on the horizon, which lies at a distance from where she is. Though the house is far away, the woman looks toward it as her goal. Having her face focused on the destination in front of her suggests her great determination. While the painting shows a struggle, it also reveals the courage and strength all people possess. Which sentence BEST explains how art and painting differ slightly in meaning? A) A work of art can be viewed from all angles; a painting can be viewed from only one angle. B) A work of art shows images that cannot occur in real life; a painting shows images based on fact. C) A work of art is a picture created by a famous artist; a painting can be created by almost anyone. D) A work of art is something made using special skills and imagination; a painting is a picture made with paint.