The exhibit is called Farm Work by Jamie Wyeth and it's on display at the Brandywine River Museum. It's a collection of 70 paintings that literally spans Wyeth's entire life on the farm.
Jamie Wyeth finished his portrait of a cow licking her leg just days before the exhibit opened.
One drawing he showed us was done when he was a mere toddler. Wyeth says, "When I was 2 years and 3 months old that my mother must have saved. It's written on the back. It's a little drawing of a pumpkin."
Wyeth calls it the start of a lifelong obsession with pumpkins. There's also plenty of pigs and other barnyard critters. His paintings are meant to realistically depict how tough life is on the farm. In one painting he shows a rooster with pigs.
Wyeth says, "I think the pigs finally ate the rooster. And that's the life of a farm. I mean the farm isn't all cute and I hope people come away with the fact that this isn't just a cute bucolic show."
Most of the scenes are from the Brandywine Valley, except for the earlier works, done during family vacations in Maine when Wyeth was 13 and 14 years old.
For the exhibit, the Brandywine River Museum borrowed Wyeth's paintings from collectors and collections around the world.
"I'm horrified. I'm very uncomfortable having a show because these are paintings I haven't seen for years and I was obsessed at the time. I mean it made complete sense for me to paint that pig with a train going the opposite way and I look at it now and think what an odd thing! Why did I choose that?," added Wyeth.
Farm Work by Jamie Wyeth is on exhibit through September 11th.
Go to Brandywine River Museum for ticket information.
