This particular painting stood out to me. Other’s always say that art is something you feel and not understand. With this painting, I think that that saying is true. At first glance, everything seems extremely simplistic. However,  the longer you gaze into the painting, you feel the sadness it emits. The realism that Wyeth uses truly portrays the feelings of sadness as well as the emptiness the women must have been feeling. More specifically, “Christina’s World” depicts a women’s battle against polio in 1948. According to Wyeth, the women crippled by polio “restricted her physically but not spiritually.” The determination the women in the painting has reminds me strongly of “Shakuntala.”

As Wyeth stated, the women in the painting suffered from polio but never allowed the disease to affect her way of thinking. Similar to the women in the painting, Shakuntala went through many hardships of her own. Despite the obstacles, she never gave up on anything. The number one hardship she faced was when King Dushyanta didn’t recognize or acknowledge Shakuntala as his bride. Although the King didn’t acknowledge Shakuntala as his bride, she still wasn’t allowed to return to the hermitage. Because of the King forgetting her existence, she had to learn to adjust to a new life and raise a child on her own. Despite everything, she was still able to raise the her son on her own without the help of Dushyanta. It shows how there is always a way to overcome any type of hardships regardless of how hard the obstacle may be.