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Feb 16, 2017 · This is an exhibition about what American artists did with where they had been: it is about context – historical, cultural, geographical, political – and it brings that context to life with great elegance and economy.
- Royal Academy of Arts
As Grant Wood’s American Gothic goes on show at the RA, the...
- The Art of The American Dream
American artists responded to questions about a national or...
- Grant Wood
With ‘American Gothic’ in the UK for the first time, we take...
- Royal Academy of Arts
3 days ago · The painting depicts a real house and real people . Wood’s inspiration for American Gothic was sparked by a leisurely drive around Eldon, Iowa, one spring afternoon in the company of a young art ...
Feb 8, 2017 · Grant Wood’s American Gothic is a painting that’s puzzled generations who’ve stopped to wonder at the real meaning behind it. We all know it: a close-cropped portrait of a grim-faced Iowan ...
American Gothic is a 1930 painting by Grant Wood in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. A character study of a man and a woman portrayed in front of a home, American Gothic is one of the most famous American paintings of the 20th century, and has been widely parodied in American popular culture .
- In What Context Did Grant Wood Paint This Canvas?
- Who Are The Characters Depicted in This Painting?
- Why The Title “American Gothic“?
- What Does The Fork represent?
- The Reception of The Painting
- The Many Diversions of American Gothic
- Where Can We See This Painting?
Grant Wood (1891 – 1942) was an American painter known for his rural Midwest representations. After growing up on a farm in Iowa, he trained in the visual arts and then went to study in Europe in the 1920s. This trip allowed him to discover Flemish paintings, the German Renaissance and the New Objectivity, an artistic movement that developed in Ger...
Mystery surrounds the two figures in the painting: who are the woman with the worried look and the man with glasses staring at us? Are they a couple or friends? The man is older, so it is possible that we are looking at a father and his unmarried daughter. The man is dressed in overalls but also in a black jacket, while the woman is wearing a piece...
When the artist saw an unusual house in Iowa with an upper window with pointed arches usually found in churches, he was inspired to paint this picture with the kind of people he imagined would live inside. The title ‘American Gothic’ is therefore a reference to the neo-Gothic architectural style of this house.
The fork is the third character in this painting. If you look carefully, you will see it on the man’s overalls, on his face and on the upper window of the house. While a peasant would hold it down to avoid an accident, here it is facing the viewer. Several interpretations have been put forward: it could be a way of preventing the devil from enterin...
Immediately after its premiere, the painting had a mixed reception. Iowans saw it as a caricature of rural life and were angry at being portrayed as ‘pinched, grimacing, fanatical puritans’. However, Grant Wood has always defended himself against this interpretation: for him the painting is a tribute to the rural population of the Midwest. The arti...
Today American Gothicis a world-famous painting that has been hijacked in many ways. To name but a few, it has been used in the series Dexter, in the Disney cartoon Mulan, in The Simpsons, in the credits of Desperate Housewives and on the cover of Time in 1994. Yours truly couldn’t help but hijack it a few times too…
The work is part of the collections of the Art Institute of Chicagoand it is therefore there that you should go from now on to be able to admire it!
Nov 7, 2019 · 1. Is this the original? This is a great question, especially with the rapid circulation of images in our world today. American Gothic has become so famous as an image that many people don’t realize that it actually was—and still is—a painting. In their minds, it is no longer an object.
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Why is Grant Wood's American Gothic famous?
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Is Grant Wood's American Gothic a real scene?
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Is American Gothic in the Louvre?
When is American Gothic on show?
Grant Wood’s American Gothic is a classic painting. But to understand its fame, you have to learn some context about how it became an icon. When Grant Wood painting his sister and dentist in front of a house in Eldon, Iowa, he didn’t know his painting would become iconic.
