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Jamie Wyeth
(American, b. 1946)
Hill Girt Farm
Alternate Title(s)
- Chadds Ford Pumpkins
2000
36 x 26 1/8 in. (91.4 x 66.4 cm)
2000.3
© Jamie Wyeth / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Purchased with the Museum Volunteers’ Fund, 2000
Not on view
In this seasonal scene, a jack-o-lantern glows in the midst of a moonlit field. The painting records a haunting dream Jamie Wyeth had in which he was walking through a field of pumpkins. A strange scratching sound led him farther into the field where he discovered a pumpkin mysteriously carving itself from the inside out. As the face appeared, Wyeth realized the rows of pumpkins looked to him like rows of human heads strewn throughout the field. Wyeth’s point of view is down low to the ground, with a rising mound of earth giving the sense that the pumpkins (or heads) may all come rolling toward the viewer. The background story adds a deeply unsettling aspect to an already spooky painting.
