American Gothic is perhaps one of the most recognized paintings in American Art. This work was painted and created by the regionalist artist, Grant Wood from Iowa. This painting is often referred to as an American icon in our country. Grant Wood painted this work in the year of 1930, just as the depression was beginning to take over America and it was discovered at an exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago. The painting won a bronze medal and a three hundred dollar prize (Stokstad 1101).   This has often been a controversial painting in America because we are not sure if the man and the woman in the painting are supposed to be husband and wife, father and daughter, or perhaps sister and brother (Heritage 1). Many have found that in an interview with Wood in a 1933 article wood wrote that he “envisioned the pair as husband and wife. As a matter of Wood’s sister, Nan, posed as the woman in this particular painting (1). When the painting was unveiled in Iowa the natives of that state thought that Wood was mocking their culture. They thought that he was meaning to depict every Iowan as this rural type farmer and they became infuriated (2). Also, the clear age difference of the two subjects began to cause their own outburst among Wood’s Iowa hometown. So Wood decides to change his story on the pair and the two subjects became a small-town Iowa businessman and his daughter (3). We can also notice that the painting’s title is “American Gothic”  and the reason being is that there is a distinct Gothic Window in the background of the painting so that was the reasoning for his title to this work. Wood got the inspiration for that window when he was traveling to Eldon, Iowa and when he saw the house he immediately sketched it on the back of an envelope (1). I believe that Wood was not trying to poke fun at the culture; he was simply just depicting the world that was going on around him. This is a very important painting when looking at American Studies in general what was meant to be real eventually became part of the popular culture as you can see in the slide show below. This painting has been redone several times with America’s popular figures many times involved in the renditions. We can never truly know what will stick out in America to become popular but I do not believe as simple as Grant Wood was that he would have anticipated that his work is an American historical icon that is here to stay.

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"American Gothic" and Pop Culture in America