More than 1,000 people took advantage of free admission at
the Brandywine River Museum Monday in honor of what would have been Andrew
Wyeth’s 93^rd birthday.

The world-famous Chadds Ford artist was born July 12, 1917.
He died January 16, 2009.

In addition to the free admission into the museum, there
were also free tours of the N.C. Wyeth home and studio. There were three
showings of the documentary, “Snow Hill,” a one-hour film biography/self
portrait of Wyeth narrated by actor Stacy Keach.

Also on display were rarely seen photographs and portraits
of the artist from his youth into his adult life, and many of his medals and
awards including his 2007 National Medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of
Freedom awarded in 1963. Wyeth was the first painter to receive the
presidential medal.

The museum also offered Jimmy John’s hot dogs and birthday
cake.

Hillary Holland, director of public relations for the museum
and Brandywine Conservancy said

“He made Chadds Ford famous around the world, but Chadds
Ford is still a small town and people still have wonderful memories about him,”
Holland said. “We miss him. He did wonderful things for us and made wonderful
art.”

She said Wyeth’s legacy was that “wonderful art” that makes
people “admire and appreciate what he was able to accomplish with his egg
tempera work and his watercolors.”

Wyeth’s work had a broad appeal, making an impact on young
and old alike. She shared a personal story, saying that her sister, who has
lived all over the country and in foreign countries, would always think of home
whenever she sees a Wyeth painting.

He was an “integral part of Chadds Ford life and people
still miss him,” Holland added.

Echoing much of Holland’s sentiment was Barbara Moore,
director of the Chadds Ford Gallery.

Moore also said that Wyeth knew his subject matter. He lived
in Maine during the summer and Chadds Ford the rest of the year, and those were
the two locations he painted.

“He brought Chadds Ford to the forefront of the art world,”
Moore said. “N.C. [Wyeth, Andy’s father] had done that, but Andy just really
brought it to be… The special thing to remember [about Wyeth] is that he
existed,” Moore said. “Unfortunately, we only had 91 years of a talent that
should have gone on and on and on.”

Moore said it’s possible to view his body of work, possibly,
as a story Wyeth was trying to tell. She referred to the fact that there were
tire tracks in a number of his paintings and she speculates that the tracks
represented the artist’s own passage through life.

“It’s the coming and going of life,” she said. “With death
there is always life, and that always came through in his artwork and whatever
he was portraying… He’s left us a wonderful legacy.”