Looking Out, Looking In at the National Gallery of Art is a small, humble show featuring mid-century artist Andrew Wyeth’s paintings of windows and farmhouses – a show that quickly became one of my all-time favorite exhibits. You will not see his most famous painting, Christina’s World, or images of his muse Helga; instead, the NGA has followed the thread from their painting, Wind from the Sea, which is regularly on view. This is an emotional journey through light, movement, and contemplation—not only in the process of his paintings but the process of where your mind wanders while looking at art. These works felt familiar but I could not unravel the why at first—this is the first I’ve seen most of these works. I looked back and forth between the paintings and their labels—the dates struck me. The 1940s through 70s were not frequented with many ethereal, subject-driven paintings.
However, photography was.
