The solidarity figure of The Bermudian, caught in a quiet, contemplative moment, conveys that same sense of timelessness felt in Wyeth’s best tempera paintings. His subdued palette of earth colors is in dramatic contrast to his brilliantly hued, impressionistic watercolors of the 1930’s. Wyeth has always thought of himself as an abstractionist and the spareness of his forms is more readily apparent in the broadly painted watercolors than in the meticulous detail of the temperas. “It’s not what you put in but what you leave out that counts,” he has stated. Wyeth painted this picture in 1950 while recuperating from an illness in Bermuda.

Andrew Wyeth was born in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, the son of the famous illustrator-artist and teacher, N.C. Wyeth. He was educated at home where he spent a great deal of time outdoors. At the age of ten he started doing pen-and-ink sketches, and at twelve he executed drawings for an essay written by his father. Since his youth, Wyeth has lived in Chadds Ford and spent his summers on the coast of Maine. Working against the mainstream of modern art, he has developed a uniquely personal and American brand of realism.