Chadds Ford Landscape - July 1909

The Wyeth family moved permanently to Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, in 1908, renting an old farm house on the north side of the main road through the village. Wyeth renovated the property’s carriage house to serve as his studio, and this was the view to the village as seen from door of the studio. His early attempts to paint under the influence of the writings of Henry David Thoreau resulted in a group of impressionist style landscape paintings, like this one, all done within steps or a short walk from his studio.

About this painting Wyeth wrote: "As I look out of the window into the blaze of the noon heat, everything looks faded and gray, as though all the life and color of the tree-foliage and grass had withdrawn itself from the scorching sun. And with the vanished color has gone the life-blood of the leaves for they rustle like paper and shiver and tremble in the hot breeze. I have started a small canvas embodying this spirit of the noon-day." (NCW to Henriette Zirngiebel Wyeth, July 30, 1909, Wyeth Family Archives)