{"data":{"id":6565,"api_model":"artworks","api_link":"https:\/\/api.artic.edu\/api\/v1\/artworks\/6565","is_boosted":true,"title":"American Gothic","alt_titles":null,"thumbnail":{"lqip":"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhBAAFAPQAACkjHTIlGSYmJjQqID8wIDIwLU5DNkxFO1JJO01NSGdjVYx0UYp4W5F\/YJWFYJOEZauljaOkkqeyn6ixogAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACH5BAAAAAAALAAAAAAEAAUAAAURoBRBk9MsD4MoBgEkRTAcQggAOw==","width":6949,"height":8400,"alt_text":"Painting of a woman and an older white man holding a pitchfork, both seen from the waist up. They stand side by side with stern expressions, in front of a white house with a peaked roof."},"main_reference_number":"1930.934","has_not_been_viewed_much":false,"boost_rank":null,"date_start":1930,"date_end":1930,"date_display":"1930","date_qualifier_title":"","date_qualifier_id":null,"artist_display":"Grant Wood (American, 1891\u20131942)","place_of_origin":"Cedar Rapids","description":"

In American Gothic<\/em>, Grant Wood directly evoked images of an earlier generation by featuring a farmer and his daughter posed stiffly and dressed as if they were, as the artist put it, \u201ctintypes from my old family album.\u201d They stand outside of their home, built in an 1880s style known as Carpenter Gothic. Wood had seen a similar farmhouse during a visit to Eldon, Iowa.<\/p>\n

When it was exhibited at the Art Institute in 1930, the painting became an instant sensation, its ambiguity prompting viewers to speculate about the figures and their story. Many understood the work to be a satirical comment on midwesterners out of step with a modernizing world. Yet Wood intended it to convey a positive image of rural American values, offering a vision of reassurance at the beginning of the Great Depression.<\/p>\n","short_description":"One of America\u2019s most famous paintings, American Gothic<\/em> debuted at the Art Institute of Chicago, winning Grant Wood a $300 prize and instant fame. Wood used his sister and dentist as models, depicting them in front of an 1880s-style house. While the painting is often seen as a satirical commentary on the Midwestern character, Wood intended it to a positive statement about rural American values.","dimensions":"78 \u00d7 65.3 cm (30 3\/4 \u00d7 25 3\/4 in.)","dimensions_detail":[{"depth":null,"width":65,"height":78,"diameter":null,"clarification":null}],"medium_display":"Oil on Beaver Board","inscriptions":"Signed and dated recto, bottom-right, on overalls, in light blue paint: \"GRANT \/ WOOD \/ 1930\".","credit_line":"Friends of American Art Collection","catalogue_display":null,"publication_history":"\"Prize Awards in the Annual American Exhibition,\" Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago<\/em> 24, no. 9 (Dec. 1930): 120, https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/4103927<\/a>.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Catalogue of the Forty-Third Annual Exhibition of American Paintings and Sculpture<\/em>, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1930), n.p., cat. 207 (ill.).\n\n\"The Cover,\" Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago<\/em> 25, no. 2 (Feb. 1931): cover, 25 (ill.), https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/4103860<\/a>.\n\nAlbright Art Gallery, Twenty-Fifth Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists<\/em>, exh. cat. (Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, 1931), 26, cat. 139 (ill.).\n\n\"Loans to Other Museums and Institutions,\" Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago: Report for the Year 1931<\/em> 26 no. 2 (Feb. 1932): 70.\n\n\"Loans to Other Museums and Institutions,\" Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago: Report for the Year 1933<\/em> 28, no. 3 (Mar. 1934): 71, 73.\n\n\"Loans to Other Museums and Institutions,\" Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago: Report for the Year 1934<\/em> 29, no. 3 (Mar. 1935): 72.\n\n\"Loans to Other Museums and Institutions,\" Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago: Report for the Year 1935<\/em> 30, no. 3 (Mar. 1936): 68.\n\nFrederick A. Sweet, \"Half a Century of American Art,\" Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago<\/em> 33, no. 6 (Nov. 1939): 97, https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/4114023<\/a>.\n\nAnita Brenner, \"Is There An American Art?,\" The New York Times Magazine<\/em>, Nov. 23, 1941, 13 (ill.).\n\nFrederick S. Wight and Lloyd Goodrich, Milestones of American Painting in Our Century<\/em> (Chanticleer Press, 1949), 30, 74\u201375, pl. 21 (ill.).\n\nAline B. Louchheim, \"A New Yorker Visits the Art Institute,\" The Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly<\/em> 46, no. 2 (Apr. 1, 1952): 23, https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/4112565<\/a>.\n\n\"People and Events: Portraits on Television,\" The Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly<\/em> 50, no. 2 (Apr. 1, 1956): 39, https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/4112563<\/a>.\n\nHenri Dorra, The American Muse<\/em> (Viking Press, 1961), 124, 156 (ill.).\n\n\"Summer Gallery Talks,\" Calendar of the Art Institute of Chicago<\/em> 65, no. 3 (May\u2013Aug. 1971): 18, https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/4101468<\/a>.\n\n\"Lecturer's Choice: Fifteen Minute Gallery Talks for Summer,\" Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago<\/em> 67, no. 3 (May-June 1973): 11, https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/4111255<\/a>.\n\nMatthew Baigell, The American Scene: American Painting of the 1930s<\/em> (Praeger Publishers, 1974), 1, 12, 18, 109\u2013111 (ill.).\n\n\"Public Lectures,\" Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago<\/em> 69, no. 4 (Jul\u2013Aug. 1975): 8, https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/4108644<\/a>.\n\n\"Public Lectures,\" Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago<\/em> 73, no. 5\/6 (Sep\u2013Dec. 1979): 14, https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/4104186<\/a>.\n\nWanda Corn, \"The Painting that Became a Symbol of a Nation's Spirit,\" Smithsonian<\/em> 11, no. 8 (Nov. 1980): 84\u201396, (ill.).\n\nWanda M. Corn, Grant Wood: The Regionalist Vision<\/em>, exh. cat. (Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1982), 3, 25\u201326, 33, 35, 60, 128\u2013142, pl. 32 (ill.). \n\nWanda M. Corn, \"The Birth of a National Icon: Grant Wood's American Gothic,\" Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies<\/em> 10 (1983): 253\u201375, fig. 1 (ill.), https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2307\/4104340<\/a>.\n\nBrady M. Roberts, Grant Wood: An American Master Revealed<\/em> (Davenport Museum of Art, 1995), 24, 69\u201373, 96\u201398, cat. 16, pl. 16 (ill.). \n\nJames N. Wood and Teri J. Edelstein, The Art Institute of Chicago: Twentieth\u2013Century Painting and Sculpture<\/em> (Art Institute of Chicago, 1996), 67 (ill.).\n\nJames M. Dennis, Renegade Regionalists: The Modern Independence of Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton, and John Steuart Curry<\/em> (University of Wisconsin Press, 1998), 14, 19\u201320, 100\u201302, fig. 7 (ill.). \n\nLea Rosson DeLong, Grant Wood's Main Street: Art, Literature and the American Midwest<\/em>, exh. cat. (Brunnier Art Museum, University Art Museums, Iowa State University, 2004), 17\u201318, 24, 27\u201329, 39, 97, 104, 106, 159, 203, 205, 207, fig. 12 (ill.). \n\nThomas Hoving, American Gothic: The Biography of Grant Wood's American Masterpiece<\/em> (Chamberlain Bros., 2005).\n\nStephen Biel, American Gothic: A Life of America's Most Famous Painting<\/em> (W.W. Norton & Co., 2005).\n\nSue Taylor, \"Grant Wood's Family Album,\" American Art<\/em> 19, no. 2 (Summer 2005): 48\u201367.\n\nJudith A. Barter, et al., American Modernism at the Art Institute of Chicago, From World War I to 1955<\/em> (Art Institute of Chicago, 2009), cat. 79 (ill.).\n\nLaura Hoptman, \"Wyeth: Christina's World,\" One on One<\/em> (Museum of Modern Art, 2012), 4 (ill.).\n\nDuane Preble Emeritus et al., Prebles' Artforms<\/em>, 11th ed. (Pearson, 2013), 428 (ill.).\n\nChantal Georgel, Millet<\/em> (Citadelles & Mazenod, 2014), (ill.).\n\nJames Rondeau, Paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago: Highlights of the Collection<\/em> (Art Institute of Chicago, 2017), 123 (ill.).\n\nJudith A. Barter, \"Prolog: Ein neue Welt der Kunst,\" in Es war einmal in Amerika: 300 Jahre US-Amerikanische Kunst [Once Upon a Time in America: Three Centuries of American Art]<\/em>, ed. Barbara Schaefer and Anita Hachmann (Wienand Verlag, 2018), 24, fig. 10 (ill.).\n\nAndrew Graham-Dixon, \"'American Gothic' \u2014 Grant Wood's Midwestern mystery,\" Christie's<\/em>, Oct. 22, 2019, https:\/\/www.christies.com\/features\/American-Gothic-A-Midwestern-mystery-10143-1.aspx<\/a>, (ill.).\n\nMarta Ruiz del Arbol, ed., Georgia O'Keeffe<\/em>, exh. cat. (Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, 2021), 66\u201367, fig. 45 (ill).\n\nSarah Rose Sharp, \"How Grant Wood's 'American Gothic' Continues to Inspire Artists,\" Hyperallergic<\/em>, Mar. 30, 2022, https:\/\/hyperallergic.com\/719745\/how-grant-woods-american-gothic-continues-to-inspire-artists<\/a>, (ill.).\n\nDaniel Immerwahr, \"Beyond the Myth of Rural America,\" The New Yorker<\/em>, Oct. 16, 2023, https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2023\/10\/23\/beyond-the-myth-of-rural-america<\/a>, (ill.).\n\nSuzanne Smeaton, \"Framing Masterpieces: American Gothic,\" Picture Framing Magazine<\/em>, Feb. 2026, 20\u201324 (ill.).","exhibition_history":"Art Institute of Chicago, Forty\u2013Third Annual Exhibition of American Paintings and Sculpture<\/em><\/a>, Oct. 30\u2013Dec. 14, 1930, cat. 207.\n\nCedar Rapids, IA, Little Gallery of the American Federation of Arts, Feb. 1931.\n\nAnn Arbor, MI, Alumni Memorial Hall, Paintings from the Annual Chicago Exhibit<\/em>, Mar. 16\u2013Apr. 11, 1931, no cat. (organized by the Ann Arbor Art Association).\n\nBuffalo, NY, Albright Art Gallery, Twenty\u2013Fifth Annual Exhibition of Paintings by American Artists<\/em>, Apr. 26\u2013June 22, 1931, cat. 139.\n\nSan Diego Fine Art Gallery, Show of Contemporary Eastern Painting<\/em> [probably], c. June 1932, no cat.; Santa Barbara, CA, Faulkner Memorial Art Gallery, c. Aug. 1932. \n\nNew York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Paintings and Prints by Chicago Artists, Feb. 28\u2013Mar. 30, 1933, cat. 37, ill. frontispiece.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1\u2013Nov. 1, 1933, cat. 666, pl. 92.\n\nWashington, DC, Phillips Collection, Nov. 1933\u2013Feb. 1934.\n\nPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania Museum of Art, Contemporary American Painting<\/em>, Mar. 31\u2013Apr. 30, 1934. \n\nArt Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1\u2013Nov. 1, 1934, cat. 716.\n\nChicago, Lakeside Press Galleries, Loan Exhibition of Drawings and Paintings by Grant Wood, Feb\u2013Mar. 1935, cat. 33, ill. p. 23.\n\nNew York, Ferargil Galleries, An Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Grant Wood, Mar\u2013Apr. 1935, cat. 15.\n\nKansas City, MO, William R. Nelson Gallery, Oct. 2\u2013Nov. 8, 1935. \n\nDallas Museum of Fine Arts, The Centennial Exposition, June 6\u2013Nov. 29, 1936, cat. 15, ill. p. 64.\n\nChicago Woman's Club, Jan. 20, 1937.\n\nBloomington, IL, Central Illinois Art Exposition, Mar. 19\u2013Apr. 8, 1939, cat. 106, ill. p. 29.\n\nIowa City, Fine Arts Festival, Iowa Union Lounge, University of Iowa, Exhibition of Paintings by Grant Wood and Marvin D. Cone, July 16\u201323, 1939, cat. 23.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Half a Century of American Art, Nov. 16, 1939\u2013Jan. 7, 1940, cat. 178, pl. 46.\n\nBloomfield Hills, MI, Cranbrook Academy of Art, May 17\u2013June 6, 1940.\n\nNorthampton, MA, Smith College Museum of Art, American Art: Aspects of American Painting, 1900\u20131940, June 12\u201322, 1940, cat. 33.\n\nWorcester Art Museum, A Decade of American Painting 1930\u20131940, Feb. 18\u2013Mar. 22, 1942, ill. p. 23.\n\nCedar Rapids Art Association, Grant Wood Memorial Exhibition, Sept. 1\u2013Oct. 1, 1942, no cat. See Cedar Rapids Gazette, 9\/6\/1942.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Memorial Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Grant Wood, included in the Fifty\u2013third Annual Exhibition of American Paintings and Sculpture, Oct. 29\u2013Dec. 12, 1942, cat. 2, color ill. frontispiece.\n\nNew York, Museum of Modern Art, 20th Century Portraits, Dec. 8, 1942\u2013Jan. 24, 1943, p. 145, ill. p. 99.\n\nBaltimore, MD, Feb. 12\u2013Mar. 7, 1943.\n\nWorcester Art Museum, Mar. 17\u2013Apr. 19, 1943.\n\nBoston, The Institute of Modern Art, Ten Americans, Oct. 20\u2013Nov. 21, 1943, cat. 29, ill.\n\nSaginaw, MI, Saginaw Museum of Art, An Exhibition of American Painting from Colonial Times until Today, Jan. 10\u2013Feb. 15, 1948, cat. 71, pl. 13.\n\nDallas Museum of Fine Arts, Famous American Paintings, Oct. 9\u201331, 1948, n.pag., ill.\n\nBoston, Institute of Contemporary Art, Milestones of American Painting in Our Century, c. Jan. 2\u2013c. Mar. 3, 1949, cat. 21.\n\nMontreal, Canada, Mar. 18\u2013Apr. 20, 1949. \n\nCanadian National Exhibition Art Exhibit, Aug. 26\u2013Sept. 10, 1949.\n\nBeloit, WI, Beloit College, Oct. 11\u2013Nov. 11, 1949.\n\nDayton, OH, Dayton Art Institute, The Artist and His Family, Mar. 3\u2013Apr. 1950, cat. 40.\n\nCedar Rapids, IA, Coe College, Centennial Exhibition, May 15\u2013June 9, 1952, cat. 24.\n\nNew York, Wildenstein and Company, Landmarks in American Art, 1670\u20131950<\/em>, Feb. 26\u2013Mar. 28, 1953, cat. 50.\n\nSyracuse Museum of Fine Arts, 125 Years of American Art, Sept. 15\u2013Oct. 11, 1953, cat. 59, ill. p. 18.\n\nDubuque, IA, Dubuque Art Association, Thirty Years of Grant Wood, Feb. 15\u2013Feb. 23, 1955, cat. 9.\n\nDes Moines, IA, Des Moines Art Center, Communicating Art from Midwest Collections: American and European Paintings and Sculpture, 1835\u20131955, Oct. 13\u2013Nov. 6, 1955, cat. 20, ill.\n\nDavenport, IA, Davenport Municipal Art Gallery, Grant Wood and the American Scene, Feb. 3\u201324, 1957, cat. 5, ill. p. 5.\n\nIL, Durand Art Institute, Lake Forest College, A Century of American Painting: Masterpieces Loaned by The Art Institute of Chicago<\/em>, June 10\u201316, 1957, no. 23. \n\nBrooklyn Museum of Art, Face of America: The History of Portraiture in the United States, Nov. 13, 1957\u2013Jan. 26, 1958, cat. 92, fig. 41.\n\nWashington, DC, Corcoran Gallery of Art, The American Muse: Parallel Trends in Literature and Art, Apr. 4\u2013May 17, 1959, cat. 130.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Two Centuries of American Art, 1750-1950<\/em><\/a>, Oct. 1, 1959\u2013Jan. 10, 1960, no cat. [downloadable checklist available].\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Art in Illinois, In Honor of the Illinois Sesquicentennial, June 15\u2013Sept. 8, 1968, p. 10. \n\nArt Institute of Chicago, 100 Artists, 100 Years: Alumni of the SAIC, Centennial Exhibition, Nov. 23, 1979\u2013Jan. 20, 1980, cat. 112, ill. p. 35.\n\nNew York, The Whitney Museum of American Art, Grant Wood: The Regionalist Vision, June 16\u2013Sept. 4, 1983, cat. 25, pl. 32; Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Sept. 25, 1983\u2013Jan. 1, 1984; Art Institute of Chicago, Jan. 21\u2013Apr. 15, 1984; San Francisco, M. H. DeYoung Memorial Museum, May 12\u2013Aug. 12, 1984.\n\nOmaha, NE, Joslyn Art Museum, Grant Wood: An American Master Revealed, Dec. 10, 1995\u2013Feb. 25, 1996, cat. 14, pl. 16; Davenport, IA, Davenport Museum of Art, Mar. 23\u2013Sept. 8, 1996; Worcester, MA, Worcester Art Museum, Oct. 6\u2013Dec. 31, 1996.\n\nNew York, The Whitney Museum of American Art, The American Century: Art and Culture, 1900\u20131950, Apr. 23\u2013Aug. 22, 1999, cat. 435, color ill. p. 225.\n\nCedar Rapids, IA, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Grant Wood at 5 Turner Alley, Sept. 10\u2013Dec. 4, 2005.\n\nRenwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Grant Wood's Studio: Birthplace of American Gothic, Mar. 10\u2013June 11, 2006.\n\nDes Moines Art Center, After Many Springs: Art in the Midwest in the 1930s, Jan. 30\u2013Mar. 30, 2009.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, America After the Fall: Painting in the 1930s, June 5\u2013Sept. 18, 2016; Paris, Musee de l'Orangerie, Oct. 15, 2016\u2013Jan. 30, 2017; London, Royal Academy, Feb. 25\u2013June 4, 2017, cat. 47.\n\nNew York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Grant Wood: American Gothic and Other Fables, Mar. 2-June 10, 2018, no cat no., pl. 33, checklist p. 259.","provenance_text":"The artist, Cedar Rapids, IA; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, Nov. 1930.","edition":null,"publishing_verification_level":"Web Cataloged","internal_department_id":21,"fiscal_year":1931,"fiscal_year_deaccession":null,"is_public_domain":false,"is_zoomable":true,"max_zoom_window_size":-1,"copyright_notice":null,"has_multimedia_resources":true,"has_educational_resources":true,"has_advanced_imaging":false,"colorfulness":30.4292,"color":{"h":42,"l":44,"s":22,"percentage":0.0009422390340508056,"population":550},"latitude":41.8791490821878,"longitude":-87.6223319593163,"latlon":"41.879149082188,-87.622331959316","is_on_view":true,"on_loan_display":null,"gallery_title":"Gallery 263","gallery_id":2147478065,"nomisma_id":null,"artwork_type_title":"Painting","artwork_type_id":1,"department_title":"Arts of the Americas","department_id":"PC-3","artist_id":37343,"artist_title":"Grant Wood","alt_artist_ids":[],"artist_ids":[37343],"artist_titles":["Grant Wood"],"category_ids":["PC-109","PC-831","PC-827","PC-3"],"category_titles":["Art Institute Icons","Essentials","SAIC Alumni and Faculty","Arts of the Americas"],"term_titles":["oil paintings (visual works)","Realism","farm life","Beaverboard (TM)","painting (image making)","oil paint (paint)","painting","modern and contemporary art","Century of Progress","world's fairs","Chicago World's Fairs","architecture","Chicago","fashion","people","portraits","oil painting","Modernism"],"style_id":"TM-7548","style_title":"Realism","alt_style_ids":["TM-5981"],"style_ids":["TM-7548","TM-5981"],"style_titles":["Realism","Modernism"],"classification_id":"TM-78","classification_title":"oil paintings (visual works)","alt_classification_ids":["TM-9","TM-155"],"classification_ids":["TM-78","TM-9","TM-155"],"classification_titles":["oil paintings (visual works)","painting","modern and contemporary art"],"subject_id":"TM-12105","alt_subject_ids":["TM-12169","TM-11299","TM-12176","TM-12085","TM-12075","TM-8663","TM-8810","TM-8658"],"subject_ids":["TM-12105","TM-12169","TM-11299","TM-12176","TM-12085","TM-12075","TM-8663","TM-8810","TM-8658"],"subject_titles":["farm life","Century of Progress","world's fairs","Chicago World's Fairs","architecture","Chicago","fashion","people","portraits"],"material_id":"TM-13380","alt_material_ids":["TM-2451"],"material_ids":["TM-13380","TM-2451"],"material_titles":["Beaverboard (TM)","oil paint (paint)"],"technique_id":"TM-3891","alt_technique_ids":["TM-4273"],"technique_ids":["TM-3891","TM-4273"],"technique_titles":["painting (image making)","oil painting"],"theme_titles":["Art Institute Icons","Essentials","SAIC Alumni and Faculty"],"image_id":"b272df73-a965-ac37-4172-be4e99483637","alt_image_ids":[],"document_ids":["f85bee6b-d18b-5577-a9e6-f429421b4654","425cb0aa-ee1e-036d-03f2-fd42e247d242","2648047c-30b1-074b-ee13-2c691ffeb4d2"],"sound_ids":["425cb0aa-ee1e-036d-03f2-fd42e247d242"],"video_ids":[],"text_ids":["f85bee6b-d18b-5577-a9e6-f429421b4654"],"section_ids":[],"section_titles":[],"site_ids":[],"suggest_autocomplete_boosted":"American Gothic","suggest_autocomplete_all":[{"input":["1930.934"],"contexts":{"groupings":["accession"]}},{"input":["American Gothic"],"weight":754692,"contexts":{"groupings":["title"]}}],"source_updated_at":"2026-04-01T15:59:04-05:00","updated_at":"2026-06-10T23:27:07-05:00","timestamp":"2026-06-15T05:04:19-05:00"},"info":{"license_text":"The `description` field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. All other data in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) 1.0 designation and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu.","license_links":["https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/","https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/terms"],"version":"1.14"},"config":{"iiif_url":"https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/iiif\/2","website_url":"http:\/\/www.artic.edu"}}