Eaton Place

1950–1970s

The Kuerner farm, his subject for 30 years

His Chadds Ford neighbours Anna and Karl Kuerner and their farm were among Wyeth's chief subjects for nearly 30 years: “I didn't think it a picturesque place. It just excited me, purely abstractly and purely emotionally.” In “Brown Swiss” (1957), named after Karl's cows, there are no cows — only their tracks in the grass.

1960s

Turning to portraiture

In the 1960s Wyeth began to paint portraits: his friend Tom Clark (“Garret Room”, 1962), his neighbour Adam Johnson (“Adam”, 1963), his sister Carolyn (“Up in the Studio”, 1965).

1963 · Premio

Presidential Medal of Freedom

1965

In Life magazine he calls himself an abstractionist

In a 1965 Life magazine article Wyeth said that although he was thought of as a realist, he thought of himself as an abstractionist: “My people, my objects breathe in a different way: there's another core — an excitement that's definitely abstract.”