Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967)

Burchfield used several conventions to express emotions in this study for Garden of Memories (1917), which he described as “Crabbed old age sits in front of her black doorway, without hope for the future, brooding. Spiders lurk in dark corners; the dying plants reflect her mood. The romantic autumn moon rises just the same.” In his Painting Index, he wrote that the painting featured an “imaginary” subject; however, he also noted that the “Figure suggested by Grandma Snyder who lived with her daughter Mrs. Ida Carlisle, across the street from us.”
--Content by Nancy Weekly for the exhibition, "A Dream World of Imagination: Charles E. Burchfield's Golden Year"