Son of the famous illustrator of children's books N. C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth grew up in splendid seclusion and his paintings betrayed his comfortless New England reserve. "With my sisters and brother I lived the life of a country boy," he wrote in the catalogue for The Museum of Modern Art's 1943 exhibition "American Realists and Magic Realists." "The life of the towns and cities was remote and almost unknown to us." Wyeth said his artistic aim was "to escape from the medium with which I work. To leave no residue of technical mannerisms to stand between my expression and the observer."[13] Christina's World is one of the unlikely popular stars of The Museum of Modern Art's collection. Its pathos-filled depiction of his neighbor in Maine has become an American metaphor for postwar life.