The painting : Spiritual life amidst melancholic desolation

The woman of the painting is Christina Olson (May 3, 1893 - January 27, 1968). She had an undiagnosed muscular deterioration that paralyzed her lower body. Wyeth was inspired to create the painting when through a window from within the house he saw her crawling across a field. Wyeth had a summer home in the area and was on friendly terms with Olson, using her and her younger brother as the subject of paintings from 1940 to 1968.[2] Although Olson was the inspiration and subject of the painting, she was not the primary model — Wyeth's wife Betsy posed as the torso of the painting.[2] Although the woman in the painting appears young, Olson was 55 at the time Wyeth created the work.[2]

The house depicted in the painting is known as the Olson House, and is located in Cushing, Maine. It is open to the public as a part of the Farnsworth Museum complex[3]; it is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, and has been restored to match its appearance in the painting.[citation needed] In the painting, Wyeth separated the house from its barn and changed the lay of the land.