Andrew Wyeth, Alvaro and Christina, 1968, watercolor on paper, Farnsworth Art Museum, 1969.1646, ©2016 Andrew Wyeth/Artists Rights Society (ARS)
Andrew Wyeth, Alvaro and Christina, 1968, watercolor on paper, Farnsworth Art Museum, 1969.1646, ©2016 Andrew Wyeth/Artists Rights Society (ARS)

Beginning on Friday, July 7, the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine present a special tour series entitled The Wyeth Experience. These intimate three-hour tours will include the museum’s Andrew Wyeth at 100 exhibitions as well as the Olson House where the American master painted for three decades. Tours will take place each Friday morning through July, August and September, beginning at 9:45 a.m. at the museum’s Wyeth Center and ending back at the museum at 12:45 p.m.

Participants in this unique tour will experience Andrew Wyeth’s world by examining the strong attraction the Olson House held for the artist for more than 30 years. The tour will begin with an intimate look at select Andrew Wyeth works at the Farnsworth Art Museum, and continue on for an in-depth tour of the Olson House. All will be taken by van through the Maine countryside to the Olson House, past landmarks relevant to Wyeth’s Maine subject matter.

The Farnsworth Art Museum’s Olson House. Photo by Susan Metzger.
The Farnsworth Art Museum’s Olson House. Photo by Susan Metzger.

A comprehensive tour of the Olson House, a National Historic Landmark, and its surrounding grounds, will highlight the relationship that Andrew Wyeth had with the property. The Olson House is the subject of approximately 300 works of art by Andrew Wyeth, including his iconic tempera Christina’s World (1948), owned by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Wyeth’s drawings, watercolors and tempera paintings featuring Christina, her brother and the house itself occupied the artist from 1939 through 1968.

Wyeth once remarked, “I just couldn’t stay away from there. I did other pictures while I knew them, but I’d always seem to gravitate back to the house … It was Maine.” Wyeth died in 2009 and is buried in a small cemetery within sight of the house.

Andrew Wyeth, Alvaro on Front Doorstep, 1942 watercolor on paper. Marunuma Art Park, © 2017 Andrew Wyeth/Artists Rights Society (ARS)
Andrew Wyeth, Alvaro on Front Doorstep, 1942 watercolor on paper. Marunuma Art Park, © 2017 Andrew Wyeth/Artists Rights Society (ARS)

Tours are held once a week beginning Friday, July 7 through Friday, September 29, 2017, 9:45 a.m. to 1 p.m., and limited to 12 people per tour. The cost is $50 and $35 for Farnsworth members and includes admission to the museum. Please note that due to limited access to these tours, no refunds will be given with less than 48 hours notice. For more information or to book your tour, please visit www.farnsworthmuseum.org.