Fine Art Analysis - Death on ridge

Death on Ridge Road (1935), an oil painting by Grant Wood, was inspired by a car accident involving one of Wood’s friends, poet Jay Sigmund. The car Sigmund was traveling in was clipped by a truck, causing the car to flip; Sigmund survived, but his writing hand was badly injured. Wood created the painting during the Great Depression, and it can be viewed not only as a tense scene on a roadway, but also as a critique of the U.S. economy at the time.

DIRECTIONS

1. Spend a quiet minute or two looking at the artwork. Then, describe what you see. What part stands out the most?

2. Write two adjectives that describe the feeling, mood, or atmosphere created in this painting.

3. What do you think happened right before this moment? What do you think is going to happen next?

4. Choose a physical item in the scene, a color, or a lighting/weather element that catches your eye and explain a symbolic meaning that item/element could hold.

5. Thinking about the subject matter, mood, and symbolic element/s you’ve noticed, what’s a reasonable message this painting delivers to the viewer?

6. If you were asked by Wood’s representative to give this painting a new name, what name would you choose? Explain your reasoning.