The Most Famous Farm Couple in the World Why American Gothic
still fascinates. Of all the famous images in the history of
art, only a handful have risen (or some might say sunk) to the
status of cultural icons. At the top of this list are Leonardo's
Mona Lisa, Edvard Munch's The Scream, and Grant Wood's American
Gothic. These images have been relentlessly copied, parodied,
and reproduced in every conceivable form—from posters to
neckties to life-sized inflatable dolls. The variations are
endless: In a museum shop not long ago I came across a little
flip-book in which American Gothic gradually morphs into The
Scream—two for the price of one! But how and why does an image
become an icon? In his new book, American Gothic, published to
coincide with the painting's 75th anniversary, Harvard historian
Steven Biel traces the cultural history of Wood's famous
portrait of a dour Iowa farmer and his stiff-necked wife (or
daughter). Nearly everyone knows the image through copies and
parodies, though few know much about