Visit the iconic American Gothic house from Grant Wood’s painting
Iowa house that inspired “American Gothic” opens to visitors
A house in Eldon, a small town in Iowa, inspired Grant Wood to create his “American Gothic Paintings,” one of the most famous works of art in American history.
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In a small town in Iowa with just under 800 inhabitants stands one of the most famous houses in American art history.
Grant Wood, one of Iowa’s most famous artists, based his iconic 1930 painting “American Gothic” on a unique house in the small town of Eldon in southeast Iowa on the banks of the Des Moines River. The house, which is most recognizable by its arched window, was built in 1881-1882 by the Dibble family and serves as the background of the painting.
Wood – the best known artist of the American Regionalism movement, which focused on the human condition and the values of a rural setting – saw the house while in town for a friend’s art show, and the concept of “American Gothic” was born. According to the American Gothic House Center website, Wood said he found the window amusing, calling it “pretentious” for such a small house…he sketched his idea on site but returned to his studio in Cedar Rapids to complete the work.”
The center’s website states that the grandiose window in the otherwise plain house may have been “a way for the Dibbles to add a little beauty to their everyday lives.”
The painting shows the house and its distinctive window, but also what appears to be a father and daughter or wife standing in front of the house. The two models were not the homeowners, the Dibbles, but Wood’s sister, Nan Wood Graham, and his dentist, B.H. McKeeby.
The two are pictured in front of the iconic house, Graham with an elongated face and McKeeby holding a pitchfork. The Art Institute of Chicago, where the original painting is on display, says the two are “stiffly posed and dressed as if they were, as the artist put it, ‘finetypes from my old family album.'”
Sarah Kelly Oehler, the institute’s Field-McCormick Chair and curator of American art, called the artwork a “Midwestern masterpiece” in a 2019 FAQ about the painting.
The painting, with which Wood participated in the Institute’s exhibition of American painting in Chicago in 1930, took third place and won the Norman Wait Harris Bronze Award and $300.
The Dibble house still stands and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Tourists often recreate the painting in front of the house for photos, imitating the serious faces of Graham and McKeeby.
Things to know before your trip
Where: American Gothic House Center, 300 American Gothic St., Eldon, Iowa
More info: 641-652-3352 or americangothichouse.org/
Hours: The American Gothic Visitors’ Center is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Visitors can tour the interior of the American Gothic House on the second Saturday of every month from April through October from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call ahead to make sure it is open. The exterior of the American Gothic House is open to view from sunrise to sunset.
Cost: Admission is $5 for ages 13-59 and $4 per person for ages 60 and older. Children ages 12 and younger and residents of Wapello County, Iowa are admitted free. Admission to the Visitor Center includes use of costumes, which must be rented.
Kyle Werner is a reporter at the Register. Reach him at [email protected].
Susan Stapleton is entertainment editor and restaurant reporter at the Des Moines Register. You can reach her on Facebook, Þjórsárdenor Instagram, or message her at [email protected].
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