Andrew Wyeth: Her Room

Presented in honor of Betsy Wyeth, recipient of the Farnsworth Art Museum's 2017 Maine in America Award, this exhibition of Andrew Wyeth’s 1963 tempera, Her Room, is accompanied by a selection of pencil and watercolor studies. These studies provide a window into Wyeth’s creative working process as he developed his ideas for the tempera. Several of the drawings include color and light notations, and are even imprinted with his footprints, as the artist would occasionally spread the studies on the floor around him as he was working in his studio.

This tempera is an unconventional portrait of the artist’s wife, Betsy, the “her” in Her Room. Set inside the living room of the Wyeths’ Cushing, Maine home, Betsy’s minimalist aesthetic is lovingly depicted alongside the carefully composed objects that she selected for their home. The seashells, arranged in ascending order, rest on a window sill beneath pink taffeta curtains Betsy sewed herself, hinting at her organizational prowess. Meanwhile, the tool chest's worn patina and its heart-shaped escutcheon speak to a love and respect for the Yankee work ethic and the history of the Maine coast where she has spent summers for most of her life.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.