By Scott Shephard

There are rooms full of great art at the Chicago Art Institute. The museum happens to be one of the largest in the world. But of all the works there, there are a handful that tend to attract the most attention. This painting by Grant Wood is one of them. American Gothic, as it is named, is an iconic American image. It was painted in 1930 but still shows up in contemporary popular culture. For example, here’s a pitch (pardon the pun) for a new phone.

The painting is of two Iowans (real or imagined?) standing in front of a real Iowa farm house, which happens to have a window with a Gothic arch. What does the painting mean? We’ll likely never know because, like many artists, Woods never revealed what he was trying to say. It’s up to us to offer an interpretation.

I have heard that some Iowans are offended by the dour portrayal of these two unsmiling people. Is this what people of the Great Plains look like? I can’t answer that but I can tell you that the man is not a reflection of me: I would never wear a sport jacket over my denim overalls.

Canon R5 f/4.5 1/80 sec ISO 4000