The Culture Enthusiast

Andrew Wyeth was a contemporary American realist painter. Even though Wikipedia calls him one of the best known artists of the 20th century, I first heard about him last month. I was at the National Gallery in D.C. and saw this painting:


I was blown away (the reproduction doesn't do it justice, it's much, much more impressive live). As always, I researched more about him when I got home (a month later).

His works have this constant melancholic mood, but are also very beautiful and evocative. Some are even painfully sad and bleak.

To my surprise, many critics dismissed his work as corny Americana. Funny enough, when asked to choose the most overrated and underrated artists of the 20th century, art historian Robert Rosenblum said Andrew Wyeth was both.

Luckily, many critics like Paul Johnson are admirers of his work. His work even inspired the look of M. Night Shyamalan's movie The Village. The house were Joaquin Phoenix's character lives was based on the one in Wyeth's painting Open Shed.


Plus, doesn't Bryce Dallas Howard's character wear a yellow coat like this? (And there was all that talk about the "bad color" and so on. It's been a while since I last watched this movie!)

Anyway, it's great to know that an artist I just discovered and loved is being rightly admired.

What do you think of Andrew Wyeth's work?

All images from WikiPaintings (except # 4)