It depicts an inside view of an open attic window as the wind blows the thin and tattered curtains into the room.

[1] The house belonged to Wyeth's friends Christina and Alvaro Olson who lived on the coast of Maine.

After opening a dormer window to cool down the attic he was working in, Wyeth was inspired by the way the incoming breeze brought life to the tattered curtains.

[4] Wyeth believed in the ability of ordinary things to carry symbolism, "profound meaning," and rich emotion.

Comparing the rigid window frame to Christina's resiliency, the decaying curtains to her disability, and the crocheted birds to her delicate and surviving femininity, Wyeth considered the painting to be a symbolic portrait of her.