See our gallery of 10 favourite Andrew Wyeth paintings. The Helga pictures have since come into the ownership of a private Japanese interest, which continues to allow access to the works through select public exhibitions.Īlthough the collection was brought to a close in 1985 Andrew Wyeth added one last picture to the massive collection in March 2002 entitled 'Gone.' To this day Helga continues to be connected to the Wyeth family acting as a caregiver to the aging artist.

She soon began secretly modeling for Wyeth in a famous series of paintings and drawings. A German immigrant, she lived across Ring Road from the farm with her husband. He agreed to a coast-to-coast tour organized by the National Gallery of Art from 1987-89. Andrew Wyeth met Helga Testorf in 1971 while she was nursing Karl Kuerner at the farm. Carter Brown, Director, National Gallery of Art, Washington A National Treasure by Leonard E.B. A statement by Wyeths wife, Betsy, last summer that her husband had never told her about his seeming obsession with Helga caused a sensation, and many reports of the works discovery contained. Andrews purchased the entire series so that people everywhere could experience seeing the collection in its entirety. He painted her clothed and nude, awake and asleep. He painted her in the studio, outside in the shadows and sunlight, during every season and time of day. He often focused on a particular element or motif such as her radiant reddish-blonde hair or the light describing a curve of her body leaving the rest of the image less finished.

They were not meant to be a psychological portrait of a person rather the study of the effects of light on a woman's body. The Helga Pictures depicts a persistence of vision and technique from a perspective that is both objective and personal.

Wyeth helga