This familiar image was exhibited publicly for the first time at the Art Institute of Chicago, winning a three-hundred-dollar prize and instant fame for Grant Wood. The impetus for the painting came while Wood was visiting the small town of Eldon in his native Iowa. There he spotted a little wood farmhouse, with a single oversized window, made in a style called Carpenter Gothic. “I imagined American Gothic people with their faces stretched out long to go with this American Gothic house,” he said. He used his sister and his dentist as models for a farmer and his daughter, dressing them as if they were “tintypes from my old family album.” The highly detailed, polished style and the rigid frontality of the two figures were inspired by Flemish Renaissance art, which Wood studied during his travels to Europe between 1920 and 1928. After returning to settle in Iowa, he became increasingly appreciative of midwestern traditions and culture, which he celebrated in works such as this. American Gothic, often understood as a satirical comment on the midwestern character, quickly became one of America’s most famous paintings and is now firmly entrenched in the nation’s popular culture. Yet Wood intended it to be a positive statement about rural American values, an image of reassurance at a time of great dislocation and disillusionment. The man and woman, in their solid and well-crafted world, with all their strengths and weaknesses, represent survivors.
Signed and dated lower right on overalls: GRANT / WOOD / 1930
Dimensions
78 × 65.3 cm (30 3/4 × 25 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Friends of American Art Collection
Reference Number
1930.934
Extended information about this artwork
Anita Brenner, "Is There An American Art?," The New York Times Magazine (November 23, 1941), ill. p. 13.
Frederick S. Wight, Milestones of American Painting in Our Century, introduction by Lloyd Goodrich (Boston: The Institute of Contemporary Art with Chanticleer Press, New York, 1949), 30, 74, ill. pl. 21, 75.
Henri Dorra, The American Muse (Viking Press, 1961), 124, ill. p. 156.
Matthew Baigell, The American Scene: American Painting of the 1930's (Praeger Publishers, 1974), 18, 109, 110, 111, ill. 1, 12.
Wanda Corn, "The painting that became a symbol of a nation's spirit," Smithsonian 11, 8 (November 1980), 84–96, ill. p. 85.
Wanda M. Corn, Grant Wood: The Regionalist Vision, exh. cat. (Minneapolis Institute of Arts/Yale University Press, 1982), 3, 25–26, 33, 35, 60, 128–142, pl. 32.
Wanda M. Corn, "The Birth of a National Icon: Grant Wood's American Gothic," The Art Institute of Chicago Centennial Lectures, Museum Studies 10 (Art Institute of Chicago/Contemporary Books, Inc., 1983), 253–275, fig. 1.
Davenport Museum of Art, Iowa, Grant Wood: An American Master Revealed (Davenport Museum of Art/Pomegranate Books, 1995), 24, 69–73, 96–98, cat. 16, pl. 16.
Art Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago: Twentieth–Century Painting and Sculpture, selected by James N. Wood and Teri J. Edelstein (Art Institute of Chicago, 1996), 67, ill.
James M. Dennis, Renegade Regionalists: The Modern Independence of Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton, and John Steuart Curry (University of Wisconsin Press, 1998), 14, 19–20, 100–02, fig. 7.
Lea Rosson DeLong, Grant Wood's Main Street: Art, Literature and the American Midwest, exh. cat. (Ames, Iowa: Brunnier Art Museum, University Museums, 2004), 17–18, 24, 27–29, 39, 97, 104, 106, 159, 203, 205, 207, fig. 12.
Thomas Hoving, American Gothic: The Biography of Grant Wood's American Masterpiece (Chamberlain Bros., 2005).
Stephen Biel, American Gothic: A Life of America's Most Famous Painting (W.W. Norton & Co., 2005).
Sue Taylor, "Grant Wood's Family Album," American Art 19, 2 (Summer 2005): 48–67.
Judith A. Barter et al., American Modernism at the Art Institute of Chicago, From World War I to 1955, (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press, 2009), cat. 79.
Laura Hoptman, "Wyeth: Christina's World," One on One (The Museum of Modern Art, 2012), 4 (ill.).
Chantal Georgel, "Millet," (Citadelles et Mazenod, 2014), (ill.).
Paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago: Highlights of the Collection, (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press, 2017) p. 123.
Art Institute of Chicago, The Forty–third Annual Exhibition of American Paintings and Sculpture, Oct 30–Dec 14, 1930, cat. 207, ill.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Feb 1931.
Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Albright Art Gallery, Twenty–Fifth Annual Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists, Apr 26–Jun 22, 1931, cat. 139, ill. p. 26.
San Diego Fine Art Gallery, Show of Contemporary Eastern Painting [probably], c. Jun 1932, no cat.; traveled to Santa Barbara, Calif., Faulkner Memorial Art Gallery, c. Aug 1932.
New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Paintings and Prints by Chicago Artists, Feb 28–Mar 30, 1933, cat. 37, ill. frontispiece.
Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, Jun 1–Nov 1, 1933, cat. 666, pl. 92.
Washington, DC., Phillips Collection, Nov 1933–Feb 1934.
Philadelphia, Pa., Pennsylvania Mus of Art, Mar 31–Apr 10, 1934.
Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, Jun 1–Nov 1, 1934, cat. 716.
Chicago, Lakeside Press Galleries, Loan Exhibition of Drawings and Paintings by Grant Wood, Feb–Mar 1935, cat. 33, ill. p. 23.
New York, Ferargil Galleries, An Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Grant Wood, Mar–Apr 1935, cat. 15.
Kansas City, Mo., William R. Nelson Gallery, Oct 2–Nov 8, 1935.
Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, The Centennial Exposition, Jun 6–Nov 29, 1936, cat. 15, ill. p. 64.
Chicago, Ill., Chicago Woman's Club, Jan 20, 1937.
Bloomington, Ill., Central Illinois Art Exposition, Mar 19–Apr 8, 1939, cat. 106, ill. p. 29.
Iowa City, Fine Arts Festival, Iowa Union Lounge, University of Iowa, Exhibition of Paintings by Grant Wood and Marvin D. Cone, Jul 16–23, 1939, cat. 23.
Art Institute of Chicago, Half a Century of American Art, Nov 16, 1939–Jan 7, 1940, cat. 178, pl. 46.
Bloomfield Hills, Mich., Cranbrook Academy of Art, May 17–Jun 6, 1940.
Northampton, Mass., Smith College Museum of Art, American Art: Aspects of American Painting, 1900–1940, Jun 12–22, 1940, cat. 33.
Worcester, Mass., Worcester Art Museum, A Decade of American Painting 1930–1940, Feb 18–Mar 22, 1942, ill. p. 23.
Cedar Rapids Art Association, Grant Wood Memorial Exhibition, Sep 1–Oct 1, 1942, no cat. See Cedar Rapids Gazette, 9/6/1942.
Art Institute of Chicago, Memorial Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Grant Wood, included in the Fifty–third Annual Exhibition of American Paintings and Sculpture, Oct 29–Dec 12, 1942, cat. 2, color ill. frontispiece.
New York, Museum of Modern Art, 20th Century Portraits, Dec 8, 1942–Jan 24, 1943, p. 145, ill. p. 99.
Baltimore, Md., Feb 12–Mar 7, 1943.
Worcester Art Museum, Mar 17–Apr 19, 1943.
Boston, The Institute of Modern Art, Ten Americans, Oct 20–Nov 21, 1943, cat. 29, ill.
Saginaw, Mich., Saginaw Museum of Art, An Exhibition of American Painting from Colonial Times until Today, Jan 10–Feb 15, 1948, cat. 71, pl. 13.
Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Famous American Paintings, Oct 9–31, 1948, n.pag., ill.
Boston, Institute of Contemporary Art, Milestones of American Painting in Our Century, c. Jan 2–c. Mar 3, 1949, cat. 21.
Montreal, Canada, Mar 18–Apr 20, 1949.
Canadian National Exhibition Art Exhibit, Aug 26–Sep 10, 1949.
Beloit, Wisc., Beloit College, Oct 11–Nov 11, 1949.
Dayton, Ohio, Dayton Art Institute, The Artist and His Family, Mar 3–Apr 1950, cat. 40.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Coe College, Centennial Exhibition, May 15–Jun 9, 1952, cat. 24.
New York, Wildenstein, Landmarks in American Art, 1670–1950, Feb 26–Mar 28, 1953, cat. 50, ill.
Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts, 125 Years of American Art, Sep 15–Oct 11, 1953, cat. 59, ill. p. 18.
Dubuque, Iowa, Dubuque Art Association, Thirty Years of Grant Wood, Feb 15–Feb 23, 1955, cat. 9.
Des Moines, Iowa, Des Moines Art Center, Communicating Art from Midwest Collections: American and European Paintings and Sculpture, 1835–1955, Oct 13–Nov 6, 1955, cat. 20, ill.
Davenport, Iowa, Davenport Municipal Art Gallery, Grant Wood and the American Scene, Feb 3–24, 1957, cat. 5, ill. p. 5.
Lake Forest, Ill., Durand Art Institute, Lake Forest College, A Century Of American Painting: Masterpieces Loaned by The Art Institute of Chicago, Jun 10–16, 1957, cat. 24.
Brooklyn, NY, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Face of America: The History of Portraiture in the United States, Nov 13, 1957–Jan 26, 1958, cat. 92, fig. 41.
Washington, DC, Corcoran Gallery of Art, The American Muse: Parallel Trends in Literature and Art, Apr 4–May 17, 1959, cat. 130.
Art Institute of Chicago, Art in Illinois, In Honor of the Illinois Sesquicentennial, Jun 15–Sep 8, 1968, p. 10.
Art Institute of Chicago, 100 Artists, 100 Years: Alumni of the SAIC, Centennial Exhibition, Nov 23, 1979–Jan 20, 1980, cat. 112, ill. p. 35.
New York, The Whitney Museum of American Art, Grant Wood: The Regionalist Vision, Jun 16–Sep 4, 1983, cat. 25, pl. 32, traveled to Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Sep 25, 1983–Jan 1, 1984, Art Institute of Chicago, Jan 21–Apr 15, 1984; San Francisco, M. H. DeYoung Memorial Museum, May 12–Aug 12, 1984.
Omaha, Neb., Joslyn Art Museum, Grant Wood: An American Master Revealed, Dec 10, 1995–Feb 25, 1996, cat. 14, pl. 16, traveled to Davenport, Iowa, Davenport Museum of Art, Mar 23–Sep 8, 1996; Worcester, Mass., Worcester Art Museum, Oct 6–Dec 31, 1996.
New York, The Whitney Museum of American Art, The American Century: Art and Culture, 1900–1950, Apr 23–Aug 22, 1999, cat. 435, color ill. p. 225.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Grant Wood at 5 Turner Alley, Sep 10–Dec 4, 2005.
Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Grant Wood's Studio: Birthplace of American Gothic, Mar 10–Jun 11, 2006.
Des Moines Art Center, After Many Springs: Art in the Midwest in the 1930s, Jan 30–Mar 30, 2009.
Art Institute of Chicago, America After the Fall: Painting in the 1930s, Jun 5–Sep 18, 2016; travels to Paris, Musee de l'Orangerie, Oct 15, 2016–Jan 30, 2017; London, Royal Academy, Feb 25–Jun 4, 2017, cat. 47.
The artist; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, November 1930.
