“Fall Plowing,” created by Grant Wood in 1931, is an oil on canvas artwork that belongs to the Regionalism art movement. It is a landscape genre painting that depicts the rural American Midwest during the autumn season. This piece exemplifies Wood’s distinctive style and thematic focus on agrarian life.
The artwork showcases a meticulously cultivated landscape, with fields stretching across rolling hills in a spectrum of greens, browns, and ochres. The foreground features a detailed depiction of a plow resting in freshly turned earth, suggesting recent activity and the cyclical nature of farming. The middle ground displays a patchwork of corn shocks arranged in orderly rows, capturing the essence of harvest time. Trees in varying autumnal colors intersperse the fields, lending depth and texture to the scene. The distant background includes a farmhouse and additional fields, framed by gently undulating hills that fade into the horizon. The overall composition emphasizes the harmony and productivity of rural life, a central theme in Wood’s oeuvre.
