Artists throughout time have been inspired by the past. Andrew Wyeth filled his compositions with hidden metaphors and symbols that explore common themes of memory, nostalgia, and loss. Here, two antique coats hang in the artist’s studio, seemingly in silent conversation. The work evokes a haunted past and an elusive present full of longing and potential. Wyeth inherited the coats—which had belonged to the famous Quaker artist Howard Pyle—from his father, artist N.C. Wyeth, and maintained them throughout his life.