From the New England Historical Society: Andrew Wyeth met his future wife and Christina Olson, the subject of his most famous painting, on the same day – his 22nd birthday.
Christina Olson was born on May 3, 1893 and as a child contracted a disease that curbed her mobility — probably Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease. Her world was then limited to her farm on Hathorne’s Point in Cushing, Maine, where she lived with her brother Alvaro. The house had been in their family for generations, since Capt. Samuel Hathorne II built it in the late 18th century. Wyeth spent summers at his own family’s summer home in Cushing.
Christina Olson was not Wyeth’s wife. He was married to Betsy James from New York (her family owned a house in Maine). It was Betsy who introduced Wyeth to Christina. Betsy Wyeth died in April of this year at the age of 98. (https://www.wmtw.com/article/inspiration-and-wife-of-andrew-wyeth-passes-away/32243238#)
My error. Interesting though how close they were. According to artsie.net “It’s an admirable goal, but one that Wyeth never wholly delivered. Christina’s World does not only depict Olson, but also the artist’s young wife, Betsy. In her twenties, she was Olson’s junior by nearly 30 years, and someone who Wyeth had ready access to for his painstaking modeling and sketching routines. He used his wife as a model for the figure’s head and torso.
The subtext of this switcheroo is malignant. Did Wyeth replace parts of Olson with Betsy for beauty’s sake? And can we assume the artist never asked Olson for consent to paint her disability? Is that okay?
Today, I would argue that Wyeth skirted his self-professed goal for Christina’s World by compromising the striking realism of his painting in favor of a younger model. But nothing is ever so simple when it comes to this story. Reportedly, Olson loved the painting. “Andy put me where he knew I wanted to be,” she said. “Now that I can’t be there anymore, all I do is think of that picture and I’m there.”
In fact, Olson and Wyeth maintained an extremely close relationship throughout their lifetimes. One year before he died, Wyeth told the L.A. Times that he wanted to be buried with Olson. “I want to be with Christina,” he said.