Painter Charles Burchfield was born on this day in 1893 in Ashtabula Harbor, Ohio.
Today's watercolor, Orion in December, painted in 1959, is a culminating work in Burchfield's career.
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When You Wish upon a Star
Painter Charles Burchfield was born on this day in 1893 in Ashtabula Harbor, Ohio.
Today's watercolor, Orion in December, painted in 1959, is a culminating work in Burchfield's career.
He described the inspiration for this painting in his journals:
"The other night I lay awake, tortured by a multitude of thoughts; outside the sky was blanketed with soft, strangely luminous clouds, in which now and then appeared ragged holes thru which glowed the deep indigo sky—black star-studded caves that moved majestically toward the south. In one I saw two brilliant stars, and wondered what they were; the hole advanced revealing suddenly three stars in a row, and I realized I was looking at Orion. A feeling of peace and comfort came over me at the sight of this beautiful group, like some being saying 'All is well.'"
Source: Charles Burchfield, 1933, quoted in Charles Burchfield's Journals: The Poetry of Place. ed. J. Benjamin Townsend (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993).
Pictured: Charles Burchfield, 1893–1967, Orion in December, 1959, watercolor and pencil on paper, 39 7/8 x 32 7/8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc.