This exhibition is the first to offer an in-depth exploration of American artist Andrew Wyeth’s watercolors—described by one critic as having a “spectacular freedom”—examining his relationship to the medium throughout the early decades of his career. Beginning in the 1930s, Wyeth built a monumental reputation for his use of watercolor, depicting the people and places that surrounded him in rural Pennsylvania and Maine in expressive and evocative compositions. His practice varied widely over the years that followed, resulting in innovative works, both sketches and finished sheets. These works ranged from vivid, painterly landscapes to precisely rendered interior scenes and preparatory studies for the tempera paintings he produced alongside his watercolors.
Wyeth began to experiment with watercolor at a time when interest in it exploded throughout the United States, leading to its promotion as a medium distinctively suited to depicting American experiences. This new climate for making and exhibiting watercolors not only encouraged Wyeth’s practice but also informed the fundamental questions engaged by his work about what it meant to be American and modern at that time.
Spectacular Freedom: Andrew Wyeth and the Modern American Watercolor presents more than 100 works from the artist’s estate—most of which have never been on view. Featuring watercolors and a selection of the artist’s paintings, the exhibition highlights a major aspect of Wyeth’s life and art. A richly illustrated accompanying publication includes essays by historians of American art and works on paper.
Spectacular Freedom: Andrew Wyeth and the Modern American Watercolor is organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art in association with the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, with support from the Andrew & Betsy Wyeth Study Center of the Brandywine Museum of Art.
Image credit: Maine Fisherman, 1936. Andrew Wyeth (American, 1917–2009). Watercolor on paper; 55.9 x 76.8 cm (22 x 30 1/4 in.). Wyeth Foundation for American Art Collection, P0656. © 2025 Wyeth Foundation for American Art / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
