There's More To This Controversial Painting Than You Think

Grant Wood's American Gothic depicts 1930 country folk. WHat started out has controversial, has turned into a classic that has been parodied over and over again.

[@Madfattdeeb]

Being a student of art and art history, I have come across this piece painting many times. I have never thought of the female model as "young" or the male model as "intimidating. " They just both appear stern, resound, and slightly sad.

[@MF-hz6xx]

Salt of the earth

[@Gizziiusa]

do you remember both of them looking straight out at you? instead of what is currently seen with the wife looking slightly to her left. the reason im asking is b/c there is a phenomena [that you may have heard of] called the mandela effect. many of us remember the former. just curious about what you remember. thx.

[@boa1793]

Sounds like Iowans to me.

[@Hectonkhyres]

Every time I hear the words 'Salt of the Earth' my brain responds with 'What? Like Carthage?' @@MF-hz6xx

[@StephenPickells-bi2ii]

I only remember her looking to the left

[@mournblade1066]

The funny thing is, this painting didn't take years to become famous; it was famous almost from the start. The subjects (both of whom were real people) became instant celebrities.

[@Kyle-nm1kh]

Thank the newspapers for that. That's like being on a famous TV commercial these days

[@timothymclaughlin5253]

In my mind the man and woman's facial expressions reflected the struggle and grim mood of the working class in America following the collapse of Wall Street

[@DaenerysStormborn-cw5ws]

Or maybe just the misery of being stuck in a rural backwater with nothing to look forward to but poverty & hard work, whether Wall Street flourished or not.

[@WhiteTriForce]

​@@DaenerysStormborn-cw5ws She was unburnt, but she had nice boobs ! 👈🥰👌 Swing ! 🥕👈😝

[@eddieboggs8306]

Notice how the woman is cutting her eyes toward the man. Women had it rough back then. Men could treat them rough and not get in trouble. Different era for sure .

[@mellie4174]

That's how I too see it

[@laattardo]

Relationships are not that much different now. A lot of that behavior is no longer acceptable and yet still happens. The difference is that we've made a collective decision to not ignore that behavior. Cruel people exist in every demographic. That's just life. However, I wish people would stop broadbrushing the past with such negative light. The less wealthy, the more likely one was to marry for feelings than those in the upper economics. There was just as much love then as now. Did women have more babies? Yes. Was health care as we know it even a thing? No. They lived as best they could, as we do now. We should always appreciate the people from the past. Without them, we wouldn't be us now. We might not even exist without them.

[@daleahlquist3440]

"I had to go to France to appreciate Iowa." That is the greatest defense of localism in one sentence.

[@christopherhelton6999]

I would say, "I had to be born in Kentucky to appreciate Europe."

[@kyletelford2353]

My wife is french, moved from Canada to move to France. miss it very much. People are stressed out and it's cramped. It has its virtues, but nothing compares to vast north America!!!

[@SKEptic-mg2dd]

I love that a realistic painting got so much attention in an era of emerging abstraction and non-objectivity.

[@agomodern]

Modernism was laughed at.

[@tedspens]

I never knew the story behind American Gothic, only that it was a famous American painting. What an interesting story!

[@aarone9000]

Do your own research; you'll be surprised at the number of interpretations this work has about it!

[@tedspens]

@@aarone9000 Thanks for the tip. I will 👍

[@blakedannion9232]

I lived in Cedar Falls and had no idea of the painting's connection.

[@doorcamper259]

Stop commenting stupid questions you do this literally like every video

[@mikenelson17]

Grant Wood's sister and his dentist pictured in "American Gothic" met for the first time 12 years after it was painted. Eldon, Iowa has a wonderful cultural center on the property this house still stands.

[@dr.henrykarlscherrchiropra3775]

I visited there in 2004 with my family and first learned about his sister and his dentist as subjects. His sister actually became a flamboyant fashion designer, the antithesis of her character in the painting.

[@johnwebster76]

I was there in May of 2020. The museum was closed but I enjoyed myself

[@BognaZone]

Wait - you went to the museum while it was closed?

[@daveburrows9876]

There's something nostalgic about this painting. The couple may not look like they belong at a Rockwellian Thanksgiving table, but I recognize them. Those austere faces aren't comfortable to gaze into, not exactly, but I understand them, or at least I think I do. He defiantly confronts us as outsiders not to be trusted. She looks away so as not to appear too interested but her eyebrows betray her concern. I became a fan of Craftsman Gothic architecture in part because of that window. It's the third character in this painting. Then I noticed his eyebrows and her hairline. His pitchfork is repeated almost as a shadow in the piping of his shirt. Wood repeats the roof pattern in both barn and house. The clapboard siding is also repeated in both. Her shapeless paper doll's dress whose pattern is repeated in the drapery, are as naïve and stereotypical as the trees. The colors of their clothes and the two buildings as well as the bubble-like tree forms are suggestions of things, stereotypical caricatures, yet those faces and his hand are like a Dutch master's portrait. He really wanted us to notice those.

[@bhatkat]

Suggests a world without garish billboards and advertising or pollution. No life in the fast lane but with limited possibilities, few of the options we have these days. With little contentment in the faces, his more of resentments and disappointment. An age of repression that they are unaware of having never experienced anything else. Technically free but never able to enjoy it as we are.

[@apollion888]

$300 was half a year of groceries in 1930 Thanks for the informative video

[@thomasdye6424]

One way to get more in depth with Wood's work is to know he also illustrated many of Sinclair Lewis's novels. Both tried to show what was there in the Midwest, for better or for worse.

[@miapdx503]

I was 11 or 12 when I read The Jungle. It had a profound effect on me. I had my children read it when they were that age.

[@Lucius1958]

@@miapdx503 'The Jungle' was by Upton Sinclair, not Sinclair Lewis.

[@miapdx503]

@@Lucius1958 oh yeah! That's right. I have a bad memory impairment, from a head injury. I was close this time...😔

[@caseyclausen2627]

The Jungle is also great.

[@moledaddy]

I always liked American Gothic. I thought these were people to be looked up to. You can tell life was hard for them, but they seem unfazed. It's like they think the artist is frivolous, but politely humor him. I never paid much attention to the house. It's interesting how something so random as an attic window would be the one fancy thing about these people's lives. It's like their lives are plain, but they have a quiet pride in it. Maybe that makes them more relatable.

[@SoulsJourney]

Very interesting to learn about the backstory. I never especially liked or disliked this piece, but I think I like it a lot more now.

[@kimberlysabillon3005]

This painting is Iconic. They even addressed it in the opening scenes of the TV Show" Green Acres"

[@LuNaa52]

I'm lucky, that I get to see this home everyday, in every seasonal change. It is very special. The visitors love coming to see it, to take pictures and roll play in costumes of the couple in the painting.

[@susanmcnally6408]

I like American Gothic. I’ve always thought it was a brilliant piece. It’s an icon

[@__seeker__]

I’ve always loved this painting and never once thought Wood was satirizing or belittling anyone by it. The fact that people like Gertrude Stein didn’t get it, shows how divorced _they_ were from the world around them.

[@DaenerysStormborn-cw5ws]

This painting isn't controversial, it's just misunderstood. I don't know which is worse, people thinking it's an old man with a miserable-looking young wife. Or the actual case, a miserable-looking man guarding his unhappy daughter like a Midwestern Taliban. In either case, it shows no sentimentality about the sadness & rigidity of rural life at that time.

[@peterkilbridge6523]

I have two books about Wood. His artistic education in Europe and, perhaps even more, his homosexuality, put him at odds with the Iowa of his day. His "Daughters of Revolution" is much more savage than "American Gothic" as criticism.

[@VunderGuy]

'Like a mid-western Taliban' So... guarding her like a man destined to always win? XD

[@VunderGuy]

Hoe-moes are gaye and destined to go back into their closets or face total extinction in the West.

[@russellseaton2014]

" the sadness & rigidity of rural life" This probably does not apply to the farmers around Eldon Iowa at the time. The American Gothic house is located in Eldon, Iowa. In the southeast corner of Iowa along the Des Moines River. Most of the farm ground around Eldon is excellent. Lots of very fertile river bottom land. There are hilly areas on both sides of the river that are not great farm land. The farmers around Eldon were doing just fine. Growing bumper crops on their great farm ground. Raising lots of animals for food. No sadness for the farmers. And the big prosperous town of Ottumwa was only 12 miles away via train or road. So the farmers around Eldon could experience the big city life when they wanted. And the Gothic house is actually inside the Eldon city limits. It is not a farm house. Its inside the town. Surrounded by other houses and blocks of houses. Wood painted the man with a pitchfork to give it a farm appearance. But the Gothic house is a city house.

[@peterkilbridge6523]

@@russellseaton2014 All true and all irrelevant. Wood didn't expect his viewers to know or care about your excellent town of Eldon, Iowa. He didn't expect them to know or care about the excellent farms around Eldon, Iowa or the happy and prosperous farmers around Eldon, Iowa. He didn't care if they knew about the excellent train service available from Eldon, Iowa. And I say: May Almighty Jehovah punish those who would dare blaspheme the good name of Eldon, Iowa! 🌿 Wood was a painter, a visual dude. He sees this house; it catches his fancy. He uses it as the background for his satiric masterpiece. No offence to the fine people of Eldon, Iowa. 🌿

[@MisterMac4321]

The 'Norman Wait Harris Medal' that Wood received was the second place award, not third place as the article states. The Medal was first established in 1902 as a Trust to the Art Institute of Chicago. It was to be awarded to an American painter or sculptor (as selected by a committee composed of governing members of the Trust) who had their work displayed at the Art Institute. Then as now, the prizes are awarded in two ranks: the Silver (or first place) Medal and the Bronze Medal (for the runner up). There are also cash payments associated with the Medals ($500 for the Silver Medal and $300 for the Bronze - the monetary amounts have remained unchanged since the Medal was first established).

[@RonaldReagan99-oh2dv]

So , you know the history. I don't think you know the painting. Remember when the lady had salt and pepper hair and looked straight ahead? I sure do.

[@gordangraham]

This has to be one of the most iconic paintings and though none of the rest of his work strikes a cord, this one does. Although I paint, draw and do pen and ink I have never considered myself an artist, but an illustrator. Norman Rockwell is by far one of my favorite artists who never called himself an artist, but an illustrator. Great video.

[@maggielandrey7232]

Norman is legendary! Never knew he didn't consider himself an artist, but illustrator instead. I like that, it fits him greatly Though he did have great technical skill with his medium of choice, I'd argue he's definitely an artist too 😊

[@Kevin-mx1vi]

UK viewer here, so I don't have an American perspective on the painting, but I can't help wondering whether people were over thinking about its symbolism. To me, it just seems to capture a moment in time, and to capture it wonderfully. A frank and honest portrayal of two people looking out at a world that's changing in front of their eyes, unsure of what the future holds but having solid values to anchor them.

[@Gentleman_Songster]

Yes . . . and no! 😊 Any painting is ipso facto false, in the sense that it's not the real thing -- remember 'Ceci 'est pas une pipe'. It's the painter's representation of, well, whatever the painter wanted to convey. But specifically, this painting is intended by the painter to convey a typical honest, hard-working and honourable American couple and their house. In fact, it's NOT their house, they're NOT a couple, and they're NOT farmers! Nevertheless, it's honest in the sense of Wood's homage to a vanishing American way of life.

[@peterkilbridge6523]

​@@Gentleman_SongsterIt may interest you to know that his dentist said that, prior to posing for this painting, he had never even held a hay fork in his hands.

[@robertdesantis6205]

​@@peterkilbridge6523Personally, if my dentist came at me with a pitchfork . . .😳

[@peterkilbridge6523]

@@robertdesantis6205 Brilliant move by Wood to pick him. Perfect face, but the exact opposite of how he actually was in real life. Wood had to cajole him into posing: he didn't really want to. Wood promised him anonymity but then broke his promise. These Bohemian artists! Well, he wasn't as bad as Gaugin, who abandoned his wife and children in France to paint topless Polynesian girls in Tahiti.

[@hknapp-hj2sn]

I've always been drawn to this painting. I think it's wonderful that it's been included respectfully and with good humor in two very different classic films that I love: The Music Man (and in the play), and in the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

[@davegreenlaw5654]

YES! I remember watching that clip from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and my attention was focused on the family in the background as they transformed the church from the wedding to a funeral instead of Brad and Janet in the foreground.

[@ajmittendorf]

Dr. Byron McKeebe was also my grandmother's dentist. Her older sister, Miriam, married Dr. McKeebe's son, Byron Jr. I grew up loving the art of Grant Wood and of Eleanor Douglas, who died in 1914. She was my great, great auntie on my maternal grandmother's side, and a very famous artist in her day, as well.

[@RonaldReagan99-oh2dv]

So why don't you remember that the lady used to have salt and pepper hair?

[@ajmittendorf]

@@RonaldReagan99-oh2dv Hmm, it seems to me that I didn't mention anyone's hair at all, so I regard your question as irrelevant and ignorant.

[@RonaldReagan99-oh2dv]

@@ajmittendorf No , what's ignorant is talking about the history of a painting as if you are very familiar with it ,but failing to notice a gigantic change to it. Maybe you are just covering up for your lack of awareness. As someone who seems to care about the painting,it would seem that you would be interested to realize that something so important had happened to it. And I don't mean that someone made changes to it. It's much more interesting than that.

[@susankuhlman6514]

I love it. I feel it shows the grit of the Midwestern people, especially during the depression. I have driven across the country sever times, which is mostly unusual for most Americans. My kids, our dog, a few friends hit the road in the summer, since I was a teacher and had some cash from a little business I had. The first trip in the 90's we saw closed downtown stores in little towns, blaming the local Walmart. The last trip was California to Cape Cod, 3,030 miles. I drove state highways and had to stop at a house for gas because all of the local gas stations were closed. The towns were dead. There were closed dental offices and those cute shops that sold quilting materials were gone. The people were gone. I saw closed high schools with weeds growing in the former football fields. It seems that big time agriculture had taken over and young people had just left. Tumpble weed blew down main streets. But I have heard about a change. People can now work at home, so why not move to cute towns in Iowa? I have heard of one dead town that now has an ice cream shop. There is hope. My Michigan is just tourism, but that will never be the call for Iowa, so perhaps these gothic types will spring up again, as long as they can get good wifi.

[@sixchuterhatesgoogle3824]

I live in a thriving little town of 1,400. We have an Art Deco service station, a Casey's (of course), a grocery store, a bar, a bank, three churches, a diner, and a coffee shop. And fiber-optic internet too.

[@baystgrp]

Wood was an artistic genius, a man in love with the heartland of his country. His style is muralistic (don’t know if that’s a term that accurately applies, but it resonates with me): clean, unencumbered. My favorite Wood painting is “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere”, showing the windows of the houses along Revere’s route illuminated as he passes them, with the darkened homes lying further along the road.

[@sixchuterhatesgoogle3824]

I believe he called his style "regionalism".

[@initiativeplaytherapy88]

What I love is how Rocky Horror uses the imagery from the painting, including the repeating themes. It's like it's contrasting the puritanical values of the painting against the sexual vulgarity presented in the film.

[@RonaldReagan99-oh2dv]

Yes,but rocky horror had a black haired chick. Like the painting used to be.

[@thunderbolt2145]

In the '70's I lived in Kansas as a kid. My mother had this work hanging in her bedroom and it fascinated me. Being an artist myself, I remember being drawn to the window when studying it. It makes sense now, but I knew then there was something special about it, I just didn't know what. Grant did a fine job with the framing of this piece; the human subjects appear intimidating yet reflect wholesomeness at the same time. The elongated faces kind of disturbed me as a kid, yet after learning why they are so, just reflects the skill of the artist.

[@jeffreyyoung4104]

Every time I see it, it reminds me of a couple I lived near who were retired and had their farmhouse, and still grew their own food and went to church every Sunday and Wednesday. Sadly, they passed many decades ago, but I still remember them, especially when I see this picture! For me, it brings back happy times in the country!

[@huveja9799]

I don't know them but it made me melancholic ..

[@jeffreyyoung4104]

@@huveja9799 Sorry? Did it depress you?

[@huveja9799]

@@jeffreyyoung4104 Not at all, without knowing the couple you described, I understood the situation perfectly because I know similar people who are no longer with us, and at the same time it brought back good memories and the sadness that they were no longer with us ..

[@borromine]

Carpenter gothic as you call it was in fact a brilliant style better known in a wider context as stick style. It was well suitable to the new ballon frame construction and has countless examples of very great vernacular architecture. I’m not sure who was denigrating it but the style was hardly conservative or backward looking. While Grant maintained he was cherishing rural values. the Daughters of the American Revolution painting is clearly a satire or even a condemnation of the DAR.

[@peterkilbridge6523]

Wood went to Germany (Weimar Republic; think of the film "Cabaret") after WW I to study art. The DAR criticised him for hobnobbing with the barbaric Hun. He painted Daughters of Revolution to whack them back. Note the thick, bottom-of-a-Coke-bottle glasses on the women (to illustrate that they can barely see). Behind them hangs Washington Crossing the Delaware...by German artist Frederick Leutze. Leutze painted it in Germany using the Rhine to stand in for the Delaware. I doubt the "good" ladies got the joke.

[@marytataryn5144]

One thing you didn't mention is that photography in those days got people to make sure they did not smile, but held a neutral expression, which this painting has done to the max. Because in a photo, if you moved, the picture got blurred. Maybe that's one of the elements he tried to convey in the painting. Most people who had their portrait taken were looking directly at the camera though, and the woman in the painting is not.

[@BlackDoveNYC]

I think you’re thinking of an earlier period in terms of photography. By 1930 - really by probably 1920, photography had advanced such that one could display various emotional states when being photographed. The era you seem to be referencing is more like the 19th century.

[@marytataryn5144]

@@BlackDoveNYC it could be though, his references or memories. ...for instance, the clothing is not the roaring 20s...

[@PoesRaven73]

A more logical explanation is that for most people, having your picture taken was a serious undertaking. They might only have one picture taken in their entire lives. Their expressions matched the seriousness of the experience, and correlated to the expressions reflected in oil paintings (and yes, I understand we’re talking about an oil painting here, but I’m referring to photographs).

[@RandyBaumery-s4i]

I'll forever think of the intro song to the series GREEN ACRES. There was also a Corn Flakes tv ad that made fun of this painting too. Back in the 1970s.

[@caseyclausen2627]

The roaring 20s as we imagine it was experienced by very few people in the United States.

[@robertstilson2901]

I stood a mere few inches from the painting mesmerized by the vividness of detail, particularly the eyes. It is a masterpiece; one of those rare expression of genius that occasionally float above the murky waters of critics. I submit to experiencing an overwhelming sense of the rarest of rare human encounters: the awe inspired by magnificence.

[@risk5riskmks93]

What a joy. Seeing a painting in real life is always such a transformative experience. I had that with “Whistler’s Mother.” It’s such an icon that we don’t really see it anymore, but standing in front of it for half an hour, seeing the detail, and how many of the brushstrokes were partial to create the whole, was an experience I won’t forget.

[@mournblade1066]

@@risk5riskmks93 Was that before or after Mr. Bean "altered" _Whistler's Mother_ ? Oscar Wilde: "Your Majesty, have you met James MacNeil Whistler?" Prince Albert Edward: "Yes, we play squash together back at the palace." Wide: "There is only one thing worse than playing squash together, and that is playing it by oneself. [pause] I wish I hadn't said that." James Whistler: "You did, Oscar, you did."

[@RonaldReagan99-oh2dv]

Did you see it before or after the lady lost her salt and pepper hair?

[@davidcoles198]

We had a copy of American Gothic hanging in our living room. A visitor wanted to know if it was my wife’s parents.

[@QuarrellaDeVil]

My father-in-law bore a striking resemblance to the farmer. I always kept my mouth shut about it.

[@remley8877]

Woods painted this while building a loft apartment for himself and his mother in the garage if a friend's funeral home, where he lived the rest of his life. He also painted a huge mural at a local bar. The apartment is still available for tours as far as I know. As for his rent and living expenses, the funeral director and later his son bought most of Woods works for cash at a fair price, but now they're worth millions.

[@ScottRedstone]

Beautiful work. Pained look from woman. Suffering in silence and hoping to help. Man seems stunned by the state of the world around him. Strong yet scared.

[@locutorest]

I have never loved nor hated the painting ; but I'd say that I have been profoundly disappointment by efforts to parody it. I've always seen the couple as standing on one side of a divide perhaps in some sort of rapid retreat. a moment lost just as it is recognized.

[@susanprendergast7384]

When I realized I'd seen the most recent of these paintings *by accident, totally*, and then witnessed the stories, I also realized you guys had a great deal of interest to say. I subscribed. I studied under John Paul Miller and Victor Schreckengost over fifty years ago. As well as other fine designers and artists. Such a gang of teachers isn't available today

[@chrismyers2047]

Dr McKeeby was the grandfather of the artist and art professor of the same name. I was a student at the University of Tennessee when Mr McKeeby passed away in '84. He was my roomate's printmaking professor.

[@lastzeen]

You seem unnecessarily sour as you describe this painting and setting. It's a very unique and beautiful piece. I happened to be driving through Eldon on a trip with my daughter and upon seeing a road sign, we stopped at the site on a whim. The property is maintained by the state now, and we drove up to the Visitor's Center not really knowing what to expect. As we parked, the house was seen not far away. We went inside the center and were met by some some really nice local people that described the artist, painting and circumstances that led up to its creation. Ten minutes later, they asked, so would you like to take a photo of yourselves like the painting? Moments later, my daughter and I were dressed up in clothing they provided at no charge, including a dress, necklace, round spectacles, overalls, and of course that special hay pitchfork. Laughing, we made our way out to the house, and the docent used our phone to take a bunch of incredible photos for us. These were the nicest and most accomodating people you could ever meet. The photos turned out spectacular. They are absolutely in the middle of nowhere, but you must stop if you ever have the chance.

[@mikeramsay5964]

I'm a big fan of Grant Wood. I went to an exhibition of his work at the Whitney in NYC. Love his work and the stories behind them. The story behind Daughters of the American Revolution is pretty funny.

[@bicyclist2]

I had no idea about the history behind this painting. Very interesting. I like it. A artist in Columbus Ohio painted a giant mural of this painting on the side of a brick building. Unfortunately it all got covered up when a commercial property developer put up a building right next door. Very cool. Thank you.

[@33Donner77]

I heard that Grant's interpretation of his work was that the woman (Grant's sister) is supposed to be the daughter of the farmer (Grant's dentist).

[@BlackDoveNYC]

I always thought it was an interesting painting though like’Whistler’s Mother’ or the explicitly commercial work of Norman Rockwell the way it struck me was a depiction of how white America saw itself at that particular time. I’ve always liked it because it is an image that makes you stop and consider what you are looking at. I also like the arch severity of work. I think that’s why it has been so popular to this day. You can’t not look at it and not have some kind of response. Something I feel all really good art should do, make you feel something.

[@DaenerysStormborn-cw5ws]

You think white America saw itself as a rigid old man standing guard over his unhappy daughter like an American Taliban? This is the most symbolism-laden image of subtle criticism of American rural stinginess of spirit that was ever painted. It never ceases to amaze me how misunderstood & sentimentalized this picture is. Grant Wood fooled them then & he' still doing it now.

[@peterkilbridge6523]

I could not agree more. It seems to me that 🌿 "Art" 🌿 has become so solipsistic (see Tom Wolfe's amusing criticism in "The Painted Word") and "high-falutin' " with work by Jackson Pollock and Jasper Johns and their ilk that it has no impact on society any more. It has abstracted itself into irrelevancy. When "The Raft of the Medusa" was first shown in Paris, it created a sensation. When "Le Dejeuner sur l'Herbe" was shown, it created a scandal. Wood wanted to say something. Look at his "Daughters of Revolution" to see just how biting his brush could be.

[@Cheeseatingjunlista]

@@peterkilbridge6523 Thats not "Art" destroying itself, thats "Marketing" as the coporate hydra colonizes all space

[@peterkilbridge6523]

@@Cheeseatingjunlista Let's be honest: a lot of the 💩"Art"💩 market now is simply money laundering. How to transfer money from A to B? Use 💩"Art"💩 as a sort of check. Buy "Red Rectangle Against Chartreuse Field: Agony and Ecstacy of Modern Man" for $30 million, take it to Dubai or Rotterdam, sell it for $30 million.

[@craigathonian]

Like the painting....but love the reference in the opening scene of The Rocky Horror Picture Show...perfection !

[@itsROMPERS...]

99% of people who see it just think, "it's a painting of a grumpy old farm couple" and that's it. The WINDOW seems odd? No one thinks that, ever.

[@MoreImbaThanYou]

This is the perfect "I make videos by summarizing elaborate stuff for stupid people on youtube" voice.

[@paulmoore7064]

I think more people remember Grant Wood's work better than Gertrude Stein's.

[@nathanielschwartz425]

0:56 $300 in 1930 would be the equivalent of $4,737.13 in today’s money.

[@Odood19]

I like to think that fancy window is one of the few nice things they have. An otherwise humble (humble to the extreme, maybe) man and woman live in an otherwise humble house, but they don't forget the importance of beauty and the little things that make life happy.

[@robertdesantis6205]

It could have even been salvaged from an old church.

[@richardbullwood5941]

When I worked at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, now called Newfields, they did a study on grant wood and American depression-era art and spoke of this painting in particular. The docent giving a lecture actually said that it was widely known in the art world that it was meant to poke fun at Midwestern people for being stuffy, old, and backward. It's funny, because I'm 52 years old now, and I can guarantee you life on that fictional farm would be better than anything found in any City now.

[@RonaldReagan99-oh2dv]

So why don't you mention that the lady used to have salt and pepper hair and looked straight ahead? "Luke,I am your father".

[@jonslagill8864]

Wholesomeness, clean, pure is the thought that comes to my mind. When I first saw this as a kid, my first thought was why they guy had a pitchfork.

[@truongvo5785]

J. Theodore Johnson won first prize with "The black mantilla" at the 43rd Art Institute of Chicago Exhibition.

[@teresadenham4417]

I live 30 min away from the Gothic house They have a museum there. You can still take your picture in front of the gothic house. Bring your own pitch fork.😊 Eldon, Ia

[@patrickhicks9880]

It stays with you even if it's slightly creepy I also like it

[@SSmith-fm9kg]

I've always felt it was a picture of vanishing America...values of life that are almost gone to many. There is a sadness to the painting.

[@billietyree2214]

I drove by there a few years ago, the house was unchanged.

[@gregmunro1137]

I have loved this painting for years , but never gave it the credit it deserves, till I tried drawing it, during covid lock down. Its far more complex than I originally thought .

[@lewisdoherty7621]

I'm surprised you didn't take a screen grab from the beginning of GREEN ACRES where the two characters are posed with a pitchfork in front of their house with the same expressions.

[@fredblonder7850]

Or The Rocky Horror Picture Show

[@argusfleibeit1165]

I saw that painting long before I ever met any rural people. The man's expression frightened me. I think I felt accused by him, like my life was way too easy and silly. His life was hard and serious, and he resented people like me. I think I got a weird impression about rural people, and I always felt ill-at-east around them.

[@peterkilbridge6523]

"The farmer is the man, the farmer is the man who lives on credit till the Fall. If you'll only look and see I think you will agree that the farmer is the man that feeds them all." - Pete Seeger

[@jmykle4827]

You probably won't believe me, but Nan Wood was my grandmother's stepmother. I know very little about my family history at that time. I don't even know his name. He gave my grandmother, her twin sister and their younger brother up for adoption when his wife died. I think she died in childbirth with the son. Much later in life my grandmother reunited with her father as an adult. He was married to Nan by then. She and my grandmother were very close for quite a while. Grandma said she was a wonderful woman. She had a huge print of one of his landscapes in her house. I always I only saw it once but I loved it. I wish I knew what happened to it when she passed.

[@jmack8767]

Basically rich people thought this painting was secretly saying "Poor people are evil. Look at the scary pitchfork".

[@cqbarnieify]

I’m embarrassed to admit my ignorance regarding the backstory of this iconic American painting-until now that is. Thank you for enlightening me. I never cared much for the painting in the past, as I viewed it to be too harsh for my taste. I actually appreciate it now. So again, I thank you.

[@douglastarvestad186]

I actually live in cedar rapids and drive passed where he painted this. He stayed in an apartment above a horse carriage house. Now a museum.

[@kerriwilson7732]

The subjects look like they are struggling, but have honour, resilience... and are quite capable of skewering any disrespectful outsider with that pitchfork. 💕🇨🇦

[@peteroutlaw7207]

I love America Gothic. I see so much depth in it. I look at the wife, and she feels old and so sad. I see worry in the husband face. I feel life is hard, but we will overcome.

[@darryllandry9904]

You know, instead of some false grandeur displayed in the style of the home, it is quite likely that the window was free or cheap. Maybe from a closed church or something. And used by the builder because he had it.

[@larrycooper7261]

American Gothic is my favorite piece of art of all time. I was fortunate to attend a Grant Wood exhibit in 1984, which of course included American Gothic. I purchased a poster advertising the exhibit at the museum. Of course the museum used American Gothic on the poster. I immediately had it framed, and it's been a treasured part of my art collection ever since.

[@peterkilbridge6523]

"American Gothic" is the most parodied painting in human history. I myself have seen dozens; many of them hilarious. People instantly "get" it. To be that instantly recognizable, it must have struck some kind of chord deep within the American psyche.

[@larrycooper7261]

@@peterkilbridge6523 I have several items with parody artwork on them. One is a t-shirt I bought at a sci-fi convention 20 years ago, entitled American Goth. As you can imagine, the farmer and his daughter are depicted as Goths. The other is a photograph I took in Mexico, with the two in ponchos and sombreros.

[@NormalPersonCommenting]

A piece that will never be understood by the urbanists. They see that man with his pitchfork, and he's not smiling at them, so they don't trust him. But he hardly ever smiles; his mind is filled with his work. Wake up before the sun rises, tend to the animals, work the garden, work the fields, as night falls, eat at a table with his wife (who ever thought that could have been anyone else?), and to bed shortly after twilight. Only to wake up and do it all again. You called up the house as he was forking hay over a garden patch, and his wife came out as well. They don't know you, and they don't know what you want, but they're willing to stand there and listen.

[@SgtJoeSmith]

i already new this as i took several art classes in college in iowa. and yes its 1 my favorites

[@NerakGreen]

Imagine someone asking to paint ur house and they literally mean they wanna sit on the curb and paint a portrait of ur house. Dang, I just grabbed the semi-gloss for nothing. I always thought this painting made the couple look bitter and serious, like excommunicated Amish folk still living righteously outside of their community alone. The way she looks at him is like she’s his tender, like a sister or cousin instead of a wife. His widow status would explain his sour expression to spite the woman’s comfort at his shoulder. With the two being posed separately, the artist had to imagine the chemistry of emotions in his painting. That’s kinda cool to know. I totally get why a single sister didn’t wanna risk looking foolish in front of a dr. I just feel like the art would’ve been different if the models posed together as the type of couple the artist wanted to portray. To think he guessed facial features and body language and then altered it to match other aspects of his painting is really quite snazzy. That’s cool

[@clayguy1]

$300 in 1930 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $5,529.14 today

[@badbenito]

It's funny that several people complained that it didn't look like them. My aunt and uncle look exactly like that.

[@KenFullman]

I used to quite like it until watching this video. The thing that struck me was how these working class people would still be able to pay attention to small details (like the gothic window) when building their home. I never realised the artist was actually mocking the pride these peasants took in their home. I no longer like it. Thanks for the heads up.

[@trunkmonkey9417]

I was born in the 50's and when old enough to understand and recall, It was still a bit of a controversy. As for the painting, I liked it, in an odd unsettled way, and still see it much the same. In certain times of my life I liked it less, and other times, I liked it more. For the longest time, I saw it as a man and wife, but then after having daughter, and they had grown into adults, I recall thinking how you that woman was, and then believed either she was a very young wife (as did occur in those days) or more likely his daughter. I am still not sure, as viewing the painting from the point of view of not knowing the painter's intent. But the painting like many things in my life, both positive and negative, is still comforting to view. It is a part of me as are all the memories of my life. And the painting reflects all of those memories, in all the manner of good, bad, sweet, sad, all of it, in some unique connection.

[@taylorthomas2089]

I was born in Cedar Rapids. When this painting gets famous we’ll be the new Mecca of the arts! 🎉

[@bluepacificsurf]

What if that was a 1930s color photograph instead ? Would it have created so much controversy ?

[@tonyclifton265]

“Show me a Puritan and I’ll show you a son-of-a-bitch.” - HL Mencken

[@mattturner6017]

So, the Midwest farmers thought they didn't deserve to be mocked and parodied, and the East Coast intellectuals thought they totally deserved to be mocked and parodied. Some things never change, am I right? At least now the title makes sense. The "Gothic" in American Gothic refers to the window's architecture. Honestly, the window was the last detail I would have given any significance or attention.

[@Robert_Byland]

I was today years old, when I realized that a hand holding a Bible, was not in the original. I never questioned it.

[@lauriebolles3149]

The farmer is a piece of Bolles ancestry by way of my father's Great Aunt Martha Stark Perigo McKeeby. She was a remarkable person. At age 16 she was a teacher in Pennsylvania (I have a picture of her with her class); during WWI she drove an ambulance in France; she was a nurse just to name a few occupations; and she was married to Dr. Byran Henry McKeeby Grant Wood's Dentist. We're a young Nation but there is so many family stories to share.

[@worm_vaquero]

My wife and I parodied American Gothic, standing in front of a "Eco Garden" homeless project in Fresno CA

[@KitschWall]

When i had to sculpt them both, i wondered how two faces apparently so mundane could express so much uncanny feelings (probably just had to stare at them too long)

[@glenmassey3746]

Interesting how much trouble a picture can cause when someone other than the artist labels the meaning of it.

[@peterkilbridge6523]

That a painting can resonate so strongly in so many different people's psyches is a "feature", not a "bug".

[@QuarrellaDeVil]

There's a great bit in Rodney Dangerfield's "Back to School" where Rodney's character hires Kurt Vonnegut to write a paper for him. Later, Sally Kellerman's English professor character, who is otherwise sympathetic to Rodney, gives him a failing grade and says "Whoever *did* write this doesn't know the first thing about Kurt Vonnegut!" An accurate summary of how many times we all had that red flag of "What is the author trying to say?" waved in front of us.

[@herseem]

It's instantly iconic for several reasons as it seems to bring together multiple existential themes with a degree of quiet intensity

[@deanframe9095]

Ok I was pretty sure this announcers critique was going to lack death, but after listening to the whole thing, absolutely love art I felt the story tearing me apart back-and-forth and leaning into the story I wanted him to understand Iowa. I have never been to Iowa. This painting made me wish for the farm country. Now I live in Minnesota. I’m pretty sure Iowa has more farms then they do hear. But this narrator brought the picture so much meaning! I recommend subscribing to this narrator. Thanks.

[@canbencheco]

Perhaps you meant "depth" ?

[@jfcaffrey22]

Arts of Earth - As the story is told (or you tell the story), when Grant Wood first saw the house, he thought the Gothic-style window "a structural absurdity". So we have a painter constructing a composition using as the background something he considered "absurd". How could this be anything but a parody? Here are two definitions of 'parody': 1) A composition that imitates or misrepresents somebody's style, usually in a humorous way. 2) Make a spoof of or make fun of. Despite quotes from Wood's biographer, or Grant Wood himself - let each viewer decide or discern what he or she may. That this painting was instantly controversial speaks to its 'cleverness' - AND that it deliberately contains mixed messages. No matter what the painting means - and to whom, thanks for compiling some interesting information about this painting. Best, Jim

[@The-Sea-Dragon-1977]

This and Eduard Hopper’s ‘Nighthawks’ encapsulate mid 20C America. The simple un-pretentious country people with their stoic pride contrasted with the nocturnal city dwellers with electric light, coffee, booze and every technological marvel available to man. The simple country people are united. The ‘sophisticated’ city dwellers sit alone. 2 paintings that deserve to hang together.

[@Jim-hu7pj]

I happened to be in Boulder Colorado and see the actual window from that painting built into another equally unlikely house.

[@slayer8actual]

You have a weird ass style of art critique. "For his male model he chose his dentist, you know, like we all do." I love this shit. Subscribed.

[@a.n.7863]

My FORMER dentist, although acquitted in court by apparently the only 12 people in the county who believed his self defense story, all but decapitated his wife with the knife he claimed she came at him with. I don’t know why but I just had to share that story here.

[@robertdesantis6205]

​@@a.n.7863Well, gee! If he was acquitted. . . 😮

[@danielmaxwell6676]

I have always loved this painting. Reminded me of my grandparents.

[@DaenerysStormborn-cw5ws]

Then I guess your family must have been pretty awful. Do you think an old man standing guard over his miserable daughter like an American Taliban is a HAPPY picture? Do these look like happy people with a healthy relationship to you? Or do you just not get the point at all?

[@Cheeseatingjunlista]

Its a masterpiece, They seem perfect real life renditions, then the questions start. Who are they? Wny are they together? Are they? I love this painting, I can see the relaition to the Dutch Masters, he may not be Vermeer, but the composition, the enigmatic faces - superb, no, beyond superb - Sublime

[@amyadams2253]

I think I like the painting more now. I didn't have any strong feelings about it other than it is a technically good painting. Now I appreciate the sentiment and I'm kind of obsessed with that house. It reminds me of a lot of houses in rural New England so I'm very charmed knowing that it's in Iowa

[@farpointgamingdirect]

I always felt it represented the hard-pressed American farmer staring down the sheriff as the tax man comes to repossess the farm, with the wife looking on in disapproval

[@doubledrats235]

You said “Fear Not.” Made me think of “BE JUST AND FEAR NOT” (TRHPS)

[@gabrielerosa665]

I really appreciate this painting from the first time I Saw It, It was while i'm reading a book about "Regionalis Art"......and then I also discovered the paintings of Thomas Benton Harper, visiting Bilbao Guggeinhem Museum in 2008 I received a surprising gift: a Regionalista Art Exposition!! I'm writing now from Barcelona, but the Regionalista Art book I'had rode was in Montevideo's Artigas Washington library in a far...far 70's years . Another century, but the same Magic revisiting the Paint. Thanks for your video

[@MikeS29]

A subtext could also be an agrarian revolution against the trappings of modern life (and the ruin that it had just visited upon the world in the depression). When people revolt, it seems it is always "pitchforks and torches" that are depicted. The direct stare by the farmer could be a resolute defiance. And as to the "simple folk" wanting "fancy" items (such as the Gothic window), I'm also reminded of another revolutionary utterance from earlier in the 20th century from textile mill strikers: "We want bread AND roses." I dunno. Maybe?

[@piglex1]

Always loved this painting.I see determination. UK citizen.

[@chriscohlmeyer4735]

Grew up seeing American Gothic many times at the Art Institute in the 50's and 60's, even from a young age to me it was a stoic God fearing farm family making the best of life as they could having raised their children and now trying to maintain their lifestyle with all the changes that had occurred in the world in their lifetime. My grandmother had gone from horse and buggy to man landing on the moon, and she liked the Beatles 😊👍.

[@Lokis-mom]

I see the gothic, church-like window representing the hidebound religiosity and conservatism of the post-pioneer Mid-Westerners. The woman in the picture’s narrative wears the same fabric pattern as the window curtains, however they are lace and inside the upstairs loft. That window should domain what goes on in that loft. To her right are a few succulents plants and a green bamboo shade, the only exotic features in the painting, to brighten an otherwise plain, but upstart house. The man holds a common farm tool that’s also associated with the Devil. There is sinister pitchfork design in the bib of his overalls. While there are plants on her side of the house, there is no agriculture seen on the man’s side. In spite of the pitchfork, there is no hay in the loft of the barn. I can’t decide if this is a husband and wife or father and daughter. They both have the same melancholy, long faces. That could be from shared boredom and drudgery rather than DNA.

[@Jaggerbush]

I live next door to the house Stein grew up in as a child in Allegheny West - Pittsburgh - Northside - it has its historical placard on it.

[@betterd9160]

I’ve been to the house many times. The area is full of Amish and many people still wave at each other when passing in cars.

[@welshpete12]

Notice the broach on the woman's neck ? It's the sort of thing handed down from mother to daughter . And should be from the 1880's, but the design is either 1930's or 40's .