It is arguably the most famous of all American paintings, endlessly re-imagined, satirised and parodied, but until now it has never been seen publicly in the UK.
Grant Wood’s 1930 masterpiece American Gothic has arrived at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, the star of a Depression-era show opening next week.
It is a huge moment. It comes to London after three months on display at the Orangerie in Paris, the first time it had ever left North American soil.
“This is one of the great icons of our museum, it is one of the great icons of American art,” said James Rondeau, director of the Art Institute of Chicago. “We get approached a lot and it almost never leaves.”
Woods’ strange painting of a solemn Iowa farmer with pitchfork, and his wistful wife standing in front of their white, wooden house, has captivated audiences since it was bought by the Chicago gallery after it won third prize in a painting competition.
Over the decades it has been repeatedly parodied in an “insert your head here” way, with notable substitutes including Homer and Marge Simpson, Kermit and Miss Piggy, Ronald and Nancy Reagan and Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne. It has also been regularly used in adverts, promotions and magazine covers.
But that has done the painting itself a disservice. People often did not know how extraordinary an artwork it was up close, said Rondeau.
Tim Marlow, the RA’s artistic director, agreed. “When you look at the Mona Lisa, you are looking for something in the painting, looking for clues as to why it is so revered. I know why I think it is a great work, but the public response is often: ‘OK, I don’t really see it, why the fuss?’ I defy the public who see this work to have a similar view. I think it is much richer than people might think.”
Seeing it up close may also change preconceptions about the painting. Look closely at the wife’s hair and you can see a loose, sensual wisp, which suggests she may not be as buttoned-up as she first appears.
Marlow said: “Close up, in the flesh, it is a painting of real richness and it is quite an emotional experience standing in front of it. There is something moving about it, there is something powerful about it.”
The painting has been installed in the RA’s Sackler wing of galleries and on Monday was surrounded by still-to-be-unpacked crates of works by artists including Jackson Pollock, Georgia O’Keeffe, Edward Hopper and Philip Guston.
American Gothic is the sort of painting on which everyone has a different opinion. Is it a celebration of working traditions and values of the mid-west? Is it romantically nostalgic to a time that has gone forever? Or is the artist sending these people up; does he resent them?
Visitors will make their own mind up but Rondeau, who sees the painting most days, does not buy in to the idea that Woods was being ironic or satirical. “It has an extraordinary degree of sincerity,” he said. “This is a place, these are people, this is a landscape, an architecture that Wood knew and understood intimately.
“It is a celebration of American values, a celebration of painting. Wood is a believer, he believed in the power of works of art to shape consciousness, to shape understandings of national identity, to shape the purpose of painting in a national discourse … he has aspirations for all of those things.”
• America after the Fall: Painting in the 1930s is at the Royal Academy of Arts from 25 February to 4 June.
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