Skip to content
Search
English
PUNTART

The stories, symbols and history behind great art

Grant Wood's American Gothic: a stern farmer holding a pitchfork stands beside a younger woman in front of a white wooden farmhouse with a pointed Gothic window.
Grant Wood, American Gothic, 1930. The Art Institute of Chicago.

Public domain

American Gothic

Artist
Grant Wood
Date
1930
Medium
Oil on beaverboard
Dimensions
78 × 65.3 cm
Location
The Art Institute of Chicago, ChicagoInventory no. 1930.934

Also available in Deutsch, Español, Türkçe

Grant Wood's 1930 painting of a farmer and his daughter in front of a Carpenter Gothic house in Eldon, Iowa. Acquired by the Art Institute of Chicago in the year it was painted, it has become one of the most parodied images in American art.

Historical context

Wood painted the work in 1930 in oil on beaverboard. It was shown in the Art Institute of Chicago's 43rd annual exhibition of American art and entered the collection the same year.1

Interpretation

The museum describes the figures as a farmer and his daughter.1 Wood's sister and dentist posed for them.2

Symbols and meanings

The Gothic windowEstablished fact
The pointed window of the Carpenter Gothic house that gave the painting its title.Grant Wood, American Gothic, 1930 (1930.934)
The pitchforkInterpretation
A farm tool held upright by the man, echoed in the stitching of his overalls.American Gothic

Sources

  1. 1Grant Wood, American Gothic, 1930 (1930.934). The Art Institute of Chicago
  2. 2American Gothic. Wikipedia

Related articles

Video essays