Roasted Chestnuts

Andrew Wyeth spoke of himself as an outsider—a misfit—and was drawn to people whom he perceived as also being outside the mainstream. Here he portrays Alan Messersmith, Wyeth’s Chadds Ford neighbor and a model for several paintings over the years. He is shown selling chestnuts out of a barrel along what was then rural Route 202 in Chadds Ford. Wyeth captures the feeling of winter in the sky and in the light that breaks across the road. The shadows, sunlight and track marks in front of Messersmith create an abstract pattern that draws the viewer into the scene, punctuated by the elongated figure of Messersmith.