The Woman in
American Gothic

Regionalist painter Grant Wood (1891 – 1942) owed a debt of gratitude to his sister Nan for posing as the farmer’s daughter in his iconic painting, American Gothic – so he painted her portrait in 1933. Twelve years later, Nan Wood Grahm wrote the attached article about all that was involved in its creation:

“Sometime after the painting was finished, when Grant bought a house in Iowa City, his living room was built around the painting. The wallpaper, furnishings and rug repeated its colors. Even the fireplace was designed to set off the portrait.”

“It makes me very humble to think that of all the paintings Grant ever did, my portrait was the only painting he had in his house.”

Today, the painting hangs on the walls of the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa.