The painting: American Gothic

Grant Wood saw a house in Iowa that he decided to paint along with “the kind of people I fancied should live in that house.” He chose his sister and his dentist.

Here’s the house…

The American Gothic House, also known as the Dibble House, is a house in Eldon, Iowa designed in the Gothic Revival style with a distinctive upper window. It was the backdrop of the 1930 painting

American Gothic

by Grant Wood. Generally considered Wood's most famous work and among the most recognized paintings in twentieth century American art, the painting is the model for hundreds of parodies across every creative medium. Grant Wood, who observed the house only once in his lifetime, made only an initial sketch of the house—he completed

American Gothic

at his studio in Cedar Rapids.
First owned by Eldon resident Charles Dibble after its construction in 1881 and 1882, the home was (with one 1897 exception) a private residence until the late twentieth century. After a thirty-year preservation effort culminated with the donation of the house in 1991 to the State Historical Society of Iowa, the site now includes the original house in its 1930 form and a visitors center. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. From 1991 to 2008, various caretakers continued to rent the home privately.

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American Gothic

is a painting by Grant Wood, in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Wood's inspiration came from the American Gothic House and a decision to paint the house along with "the kind of people I fancied should live in that house." The painting shows a farmer standing beside his spinster daughter. The figures were modeled by the artist's sister and their dentist. The woman is dressed in a colonial print apron evoking 19th-century Americana, and the couple are in the traditional roles of men and women, the man's pitchfork symbolizing hard labor, and the flowers over the woman's right shoulder suggesting domesticity.
It is one of the most familiar images in 20th-century American art, and one of the most parodied artworks within American popular culture.