[7] It received little attention from critics at the time, but Alfred Barr, the founding director of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), bought the painting for $1,800 (equivalent to $18,200 in 2023 dollars).

[8][9] In Arthur C. Clarke's novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, Christina's World is one of the two paintings (the other one being Vincent van Gogh's Bridge at Arles) hanging on the living room wall of "an elegant, anonymous hotel suite" to which the astronaut David Bowman is transported after passing through the Star Gate.

The life of Olson and her encounter with Wyeth is portrayed in the novel A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline.

[12] A scene in the 1994 film Forrest Gump[13] and a chapter in the 2020 video game The Last of Us Part II[14] were inspired by the painting.

[citation needed] Showrunner Jonathan Nolan has at least once mentioned Christina's World as a "reference" for the show's character Dolores Abernathy.