He is best known for his American Gothic (1930). Born: February 13, 1891, near Anamosa, Iowa, U.S. Wood was trained as a craftsman and designer as well as a painter.

Nan told people that her brother had envisioned the pair as father and daughter, not husband and wife, which Wood himself confirmed in his letter to a Mrs. Nellie Sudduth in 1941: "The prim lady with him is his grown-up daughter." Elements of the painting stress the vertical that is associated with Gothic architecture.

Grant Wood's work has been offered at auction multiple times, with realized prices ranging from 74 USD to 6,960,000 USD, depending on the size and medium of the artwork.

In painting small town and rural life, Wood gave the American public an idealized vision of itself at a time during the Great Depression when most common, working Americans faced great hardship.