I’ve been reading about a painting called Christina’s World. The woman featured in the painting is Anna Christina Olsen who was the subject of several paintings by Andrew Wyeth.
Christina suffered from a neurological disorder that crippled her from the waist down. Wyeth painted this picture as he watched her making her way across a field to a nearby house.
To be honest, I’m not really into art. I can go to a gallery, stand in front of any picture and not feel a thing aside from a mild cheesecake craving.
This picture is different. It’s not just the beauty and detail of the landscape; it’s her. I look at this picture and I wonder how far she’s travelled. Does she do this journey every day? How long does it take? I look at this picture and it makes me think about about the kind of hardships that people suffer every day without so much as a sigh or a word of complaint.
And so this picture makes me feel profoundly grateful.