Andrew Wyeth may well be Maine’s most famous artist but a new exhibition at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland reveals a different side to the painter. Andrew Wyeth: Witches, Ghosts and Mischief, which runs through March 1, 2020, shows how Wyeth engaged with Maine’s shifting seasons.

Responding to the annual cycle of death and rebirth, Wyeth blended carefully observed details with his imagination and memory. Many of the resulting paintings of storms, wet leaves, and peculiar figures are infused with an eeriness that can leave viewers unsettled and questioning. The drama and excitement of Halloween exhilarated Wyeth, who reveled in the scarecrows, pumpkins, costumes, and pranks of the night when spirits of the dead can supposedly mingle with the living.