Christina's World by Andrew Wyeth is currently my favorite painting. Something about it moves me. When I look at it I feel something tighten in my diaphragm. Its so depressing and beautiful and disconcerting and amazing.
Christina is a polio victim, crippled from the waist down. This painting captures some essence of the suffering she's gone through that I have never really known and hopefully never will. It is bleak and frightening. The farm is so far away and even when she gets there its dark and grey. There are also triangles in the painting. A large one between her head, the shack above her and the barn. Christina's form is something of a triangle, too. The big one is top heavy and feels like it is about to flip over. Her pose is terribly sad, she is reaching out with sickeningly weak arms, her hair flails limply in the breeze and her legs just lay there and get in the way.
I almost love Christina.