Tenant Farmer
Date1961
Artist
Andrew Wyeth
(American painter, 1917–2009)
MediumTempera on Masonite ™
Dimensions30 1/2 x 40 in. (77.5 x 101.6 cm)
frame: 38 x 47 1/2 in. (96.5 x 120.7 cm)
frame: 38 x 47 1/2 in. (96.5 x 120.7 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. William E. Phelps, 1964
Object number1964-10
On View
On viewCollections
ClassificationsPAINTING
Label TextWyeth described the origins of the painting:"I happened to see that scene three or four days before Christmas...and when I went home—it kept lingering in my mind. I kept seeing the deer swing around under the willow tree and he seemed almost to have an affinity with the building, almost, well, as if he lived there… Then I had a dream in which hundreds of deer kept racing around that brick building. Finally, I had to do the painting just to get it out of my mind."
Wyeth began painting in early January after making many pencil and dry brush studies. Usually producing only two temperas a year, he worked for almost four months on this painting.
