Monday, June 5, 2023

A Day With The Wyeth Family

Had the absolute honor of visiting the Brandywine Museum this weekend.  This blog has hosted works by the Wyeth family since the very beginningSo many paintings by N.C., Andrew, and Jamie Wyeth capture perfectly what Autumn offers to folks like us.  And there's a delightful obsession with pumpkins.


It's beginning to sound like a theme, but I've wanted to see original Wyeth paintings for literal decades.  When I was growing up, a family friend had a framed print by Andrew Wyeth hanging in their kitchen.  I recall studying it quite a bit.  The image felt golden and elegant, and it had a rural simplicity to it that made it feel relatable and welcoming.  Art appreciation was significantly lacking in my parents' home, so it always felt like something of a novelty when seeing wonderful paintings in other people's houses (I'm sitting here feeling very grateful for Art History in my years of schooling).

So here we were... driving to see something that once again was relatively close and incredibly accessible.  The beautiful late-Spring landscape of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania was pretty spectacular.  There's been a drought in these parts and the light browns and charred yellows of much of the fields and hills in the region made the arrival to the museum feel extra special.  A Wyeth Landscape for sure.

The museum and the amazing tour of the Wyeth home and N.C.'s studio is something I'll never forget.  And it's definitely something we'll be doing again throughout the year with the changing seasons.  I hear Christmas there is pretty special.

Below are some photos from our trip.  So glad that this museum is in my home state.  And feeling really lucky to have someone who encouraged me to satiate this decades-long wish.  It's been exceptionally nice checking off items from a bucket list that I assumed would never actually shrink in size.


































11 comments:

MR. Macabre said...

Very cool, I'm envious of the history you have there on the east coast, you have a 200 year head start on us on the west coast. The painting of the raven is by far my favorite.

Rot said...

Well, the west coast is rather beautiful! Your water is gorgeous.. here at the shore in these parts you can't even see down beyond one inch of sea water.

But it's definitely very cool in this region.

MR. Macabre said...

I'll have to agree with you about that. Up here in NW Washington state, the Puget Sound is beautiful, especially the area around Whidbey Island and Deception Pass. The water is remarkably clear in some areas.

Rot said...

And of course you guys get Bigfoot.

Autumnleaf said...

What an Amazing excursion that must have been. But then again I'm from S.Cal so I'm seriously early-American-architecture deprived. That porcelain sink is to die for! And the unusual curved archway into the nook is crazy neat. I have to go with M.M. on the Raven as a favorite art piece. Thanks for sharing!

Rot said...

Was really an amazing day.

Revenant Manor said...


That all looks amazing, and somehow looks EXACTLY like what I would have expected.

It appears to be such an idyllic setting, and all seems so very on-brand somehow; like it was issued straight out of Central Casting, and is precisely what everything should have looked like.

...all except for what appears to be a Tommy gun, that is. That bit definitely caught me by surprise. :)

Rot said...

haha
yup...he loved guns apparently, but didn't like to shoot. He had them as subjects for illustrations and paintings. According to the guide.

Evil Vines Cemetery said...

Thank you for taking us along. What a lovely museum to tour. I really liked the weathervane painting. But could you imagine that massive raven in your house? That would be amazing!

Lady M said...

What a neat place - these paintings are gorgeous. I was just in you lovely state in the western part (Meyersdale) visiting my brother and his family. I loved all the twisty windy roads, roadside Amish stands, old architecture and the birds.

Rot said...

That’s very cool!