Maine
Wyeth Foundation’s donation preserves Christina’s Maine world for the public
One day in 1939 a woman named Betsy James was thoughtful enough to introduce her neighbor, Anna Christina Olson, to an artist whose family owned a home in Cushing, Maine. That’s according to records from the Museum of Modern Art, home to a little egg tempera painting titled “Christina’s World” — one of the most recognizable images in the history of American art.
That artist was (if you haven’t guessed) Andrew Wyeth. He became close friends with the Olson family, and over the years created more than 300 drawings and paintings of them and their property. Impressed by Christina’s determined persona — a neuromuscular disorder kept her from walking — he used the thinnest of brushes to capture fine details of the expansive field between her and the Olson home, untraditionally painting her from behind to not only share the property from her perspective, but to illustrate the immense distance she needed to crawl. In 1949, MOMA purchased his opus and catapulted Wyeth to iconic fame. The rest is literally art history.
But there’s plenty more to the story than that. Fast forward to 2026: The Andrew Wyeth Foundation for American Art has just donated that very field, known as Olson Field Preserve, to the Georges River Land Trust for conservation. It will now be open year-round and free to the public for recreation, offering everything from walking paths and swimming to paddling, and when low tide allows, access to the abutting island with its osprey and plentiful tide pools. Meanwhile, free interactive art performances by local artists are also planned throughout the summer. All of the above comes with a parking area shared with The Olson House (currently closed for renovations), which has been owned since 1991 by the Farnsworth Art Museum.
But there’s one crucial player whose role made all of this possible: Betsy, who eventually became Betsy Wyeth.
A year after she introduced Andrew to Christina, and he began work on his masterpiece, Andrew and Betsy fell in love and married. And while it was 55-year-old Christina whom he depicted in the masterpiece, it was in fact 26-year-old Betsy who posed as the model for it. For much of his career, Betsy also served as her husband’s business manager. And it was even she who suggested the name for the painting, to make it clear that it was a psychological portrait, rather than simply a physical depiction or a landscape.
Furthermore, it was she who, years later, bought the field before leaving it to the Wyeth Foundation when she died in 2020. “It’s important to note when Betsy bought the property in the ’90s that it was intentionally preserved,” said Laura West, executive director of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art. “This is another representation of what Midcoast Maine meant to the family.”
In addition to accessing free recreation and nature on the site that inspired one of the state’s greatest artworks, visitors to the preserve will also experience the immersive and ongoing creation of yet more Maine art.
Throughout the summer, beginning with an opening reception in June and a closing event on Aug. 22, Cushing resident and alumni of Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture Lihua Lei Farley will direct performances and installations. Maeve Cosgrove, community engagement manager at Georges River Land Trust, is particularly enthusiastic about one family-friendly event. “The project is called SEEDS and it plays off the idea that the St. George River is a life-giving source,” she says. “We’re working with local fourth graders who will write letters to the river and use organic sculptures in an event that will be a moment to draw kids and families closer to nature.”
It’s just that type of creative programming that creates a new future for the land, said West. “The Land Trust is really going to activate the site, which is something we at the foundation couldn’t do as the owners,” she said. “The board of the foundation is very thoughtful about this legacy and who is the best to carry it on. We think of it ourselves as stewards of the legacy, not the land. Which is exactly why it makes the most sense that we work with them.”
A quick glance back at more history underscores the value of leaning into partners’ expertise.
After “Christina’s World” first became an enormous sensation, it was widely parodied in the ’60s in advertising and other popular messaging to symbolize nearly any kind of out-of-reach goal. When Olson died in 1968, a collector of Wyeth’s work purchased the property and turned the home into a Wyeth museum in 1971, which promptly attracted such a deluge of zealous tourists that exasperated local residents complained. The place was shuttered within a year. In 1995 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and in 2000 reopened as part of the Farnsworth Art Museum.
So then, is the Georges River Land Trust worried about a repeat of that misbehavior on the 16-acre preserve now?
“Honestly, any time we conserve a property, that concern comes up,” said Cosgrove. “What I’ll say it that we have a really good partner in The Farnsworth Museum — they’re very used to dealing with crowds.”
She also has a solid sense of the historic context, and points out that the preserve is for locals and visitors alike. “Maine is changing as it gets more crowds. But at this point, we’re very much in the business of wanting people to appreciate nature and art, so we’re saying, ‘Come on down.’ ”
Alexandra Hall is a longtime New England lifestyle writer who lives in Maine.
Olson Field Preserve is located off Hathorne Point Road, Cushing. For more, go to georgesriver.org/olson-field-preserve.