Andrew Wyeth: Human Nature

”Human Nature” is on display at Brandywine Museum of Art until June 15, 2025.

Andrew Wyeth, Willard, 1959. Watercolor on paper.

Currently on exhibit at Brandywine Museum of Art—a collection of pencil studies, watercolors, and temperas by Andrew Wyeth focusing on portraits and the human form. Here are some photos I took of the show, and words to go along with them.

Family portraits

A wide-ranging show of portraits and human figure studies is on display at Brandywine Museum through mid-June in the exhibition Andrew Wyeth: Human Nature.

A visitor entering the gallery is first presented young Andrew Wyeth's early attempts at capturing likenesses and figures. Following this section are several intimate family portraits created by Wyeth in his prime.

Andrew Wyeth’s moody pencil drawing of his sister, Carolyn Wyeth

Andrew Wyeth, My Mother, 1968. Drybrush watercolor on paper.

Andrew Wyeth, Maga’s Daughter, 1966. Tempera.

There are graphite drawings, mixed media studies, Wyeth’s famous “drybrush watercolor” paintings (almost all moisture is squeezed from the brush, producing very fine lines that gradually build up the surface); and egg tempera paintings.

The painted surfaces bristle with texture, as if they had emerged from a slow, natural process unfolding over decades. The sweater worn by his mother in Wyeth’s 1968 portrait looks absolutely three dimensional, and I was certain it was—only to be dumbfounded when I crouched at a low angle and saw that the paper was perfectly flat.