American Gothic
Iowa farmhouse portrait
American Gothic is Grant Wood's 1930 painting depicting a stern-faced farmer holding a pitchfork beside an equally dour woman, standing before a house with a distinctive Gothic window.
The image has become an icon of rural American identity—variously read as celebrating Midwestern values or satirizing provincial rigidity.
Its instantly recognizable composition invites endless parody: They posed for an American Gothic photo in front of their new farmhouse.
Dwelling on agricultural land
- farmlandAgricultural terrain
- heartlandCentral region of significance
- agricultureCultivation of land, livestock
- harvestGathering mature crops
cornfield · barn · prairie · pastoral · countryside · Midwest · Iowa · homestead
American regionalist painter
- pitchforkPronged tool for moving straw
- farmerOne who cultivates land
- daughterFemale child of parents
- 1930Year after '29 crash
regionalism · portrait · stoicism · realism · art history · gallery · exhibition · masterpiece
Pronged tool for moving straw
- farmerOne who cultivates land
- daughterFemale child of parents
- wooden houseDwelling of timber
- apronWaist-tied protective garment
spectacles · cameo · rickrack · overalls · side-by-side · vertical lines · clapboard · arched window
Satirical imitation
- memeShared online humor
- satireMockery exposing vice
- AmericanaHeritage artifacts or music
- cultural touchstoneUniversally recognized cultural marker
national identity · iconic · recognizable · homage · spoof · recreation · pop culture · advertisement
farmhouse
Dwelling on agricultural land
- farmlandAgricultural terrain
- heartlandCentral region of significance
- agricultureCultivation of land, livestock
harvest · cornfield · barn · prairie · pastoral · countryside · Midwest · Iowa · homestead · small-town
Grant Wood
American regionalist painter
1930 · regionalism · portrait · stoicism · realism · art history · gallery · exhibition · masterpiece · composition
pitchfork
Pronged tool for moving straw
- farmerOne who cultivates land
- daughterFemale child of parents
- wooden houseDwelling of timber
apron · spectacles · cameo · rickrack · overalls · side-by-side · vertical lines · clapboard · arched window
parody
Satirical imitation
cultural touchstone · national identity · iconic · recognizable · homage · spoof · recreation · pop culture · advertisement · television
stoic
Uncomplaining endurer of hardship
solemn · stern · serious · grave · dignified · earnest · reserved · puritanical · somber · unsmiling
- American ArtHudson River School, Ashcan School, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Harlem Renaissance
- AmericanaFourth of July, bald eagle, Thanksgiving, apple pie, baseball
- Famous PaintingsMona Lisa, Starry Night, The Birth of Venus, Guernica, The Scream
- MasterpiecesMona Lisa, Last Supper, Starry Night, The Scream, David
- American LiteratureThe Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Scarlet Letter, Moby-Dick, Moby Dick
- art historyart history, Renaissance, Baroque, Impressionism, modern art
American Gothicdocumentary photography
Images recording real events
photojournalism · street photography · photograph · snapshot · candid shot
American GothicMona Lisa
Renaissance portrait, famously inscrutable
American Gothicabstract expressionism
Nonrepresentational art emphasizing spontaneous emotion