Color Palette: Grant Wood

Grant Wood’s 1930 painting, “American Gothic,” is a famous treasure found at the Art Institute of Chicago. In studying Grant Wood’s use of color, I discovered connections in his palette. The artist uses similar hues in the farmhouse and the barn as he does in the skin tones of his figures. This creates a bond between these elements. The farmer’s overalls and his daughter’s eyes are the same hue, a grayish blue. The father’s eye color matches the brown in his daughter’s clothes as well as his own pitchfork. Wood uses value contrasts too; their clothes are black and a dark brown which sets both figures apart from their background. Nature has the most vibrant coloration in the painting. The sky is blue and the trees are green showing that it’s growing season, it’s a busy time for farmers. While the shapes in the piece form a composition that is rigid, the colors have a gentle rhythm.

Enjoy the palette! Click here, if you’d like to read more about Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” painting. (Please excuse my photo of the painting, it’s showing the frame’s shadow at the top of the piece.)