Figge Art Museum

Figge Art Museum It will change your view.
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This summer at the Figge, the conversation starts with art—and the stories we inherit, question, and reimagine.The newes...
05/28/2026

This summer at the Figge, the conversation starts with art—and the stories we inherit, question, and reimagine.

The newest issue of “Views from the Figge” takes a closer look at the exhibitions ahead, including A Golden Age for Whom?, Corn Zone, Portrait of America, and Ana Mendieta: Traces. Inside, you’ll find reflections on history, identity, memory, and the ways contemporary artists continue to respond to the past in deeply personal and timely ways.

It’s a season shaped by big questions, bold artwork, and new perspectives, and we’re excited to share it with you.

📖 Read or download the summer issue now: https://go.fliplink.me/view/4953F943-AE08-4FCA-8272-7DDE3DD02CF3

🇩🇰 First day in Copenhagen: cobblestones, castles, crown jewels, colorful harbors, and a surprise royal birthday appeara...
05/27/2026

🇩🇰 First day in Copenhagen: cobblestones, castles, crown jewels, colorful harbors, and a surprise royal birthday appearance.

Our Travel with the Figge group spent the day exploring the layers of history, art, and civic culture woven throughout the city — from Rosenborg Castle to Nyhavn’s iconic waterfront. The day even coincided with the King of Denmark’s birthday, giving travelers an unexpected glimpse of the Royal Family as Copenhagen gathered to celebrate.

At Rosenborg Castle, travelers viewed the Danish crown jewels and coronation thrones, and learned that the royal family still serves wine dating back to 1615 for special occasions.

But beyond the landmarks, one of the most meaningful parts of the journey has been experiencing the city together.

“As we’ve gotten to know the town, we’ve also gotten to know each other,” shares Executive Director Melissa Mohr. “With every corner we turn, there’s a new architectural delight, and each discovery creates a shared moment of awe that leads to stories of past travels and experiences. Traveling together is special.”

Travel with the Figge offers opportunities to experience art, culture, history, and connection beyond our museum walls. Stay tuned for more stories from this year's trip!

Sometimes the most revealing part of an artwork is the decision you never knew an artist made.Grant Wood’s "Study (Sketc...
05/25/2026

Sometimes the most revealing part of an artwork is the decision you never knew an artist made.

Grant Wood’s "Study (Sketch) for Fall Plowing" offers a rare look into the evolution of one of his best-known rural landscapes. Compare the sketch to the finished painting and one change immediately stands out: the glowing yellow tree at the center disappears. In its place, Wood introduces a John Deere plow cutting across the foreground.

That shift transforms the painting.

Co-Senior Curator Joshua Johnson shares:

In making this one seemingly subtle shift, Wood transforms the entire interpretation of the image. What might have been a straightforward celebration of the Midwestern landscape becomes a painting foregrounded by labor and humankind’s ability to shape the land.

The figure of the farmer never appears, yet their presence is everywhere, in the turned earth, the bailed crops, and the plow left mid-task. The land is no longer simply observed; it has been shaped.

Comparing these works reminds us that every artwork is the result of countless decisions, many of which remain invisible to the viewer. Each choice an artist makes shapes how we encounter the work, guiding us toward a particular feeling, story, or way of seeing.
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🖼️ Grant Wood, "Fall Plowing," 1931, oil on canvas, Collection of Deere & Company
🖼️ Grant Wood, "Study (Sketch) for Fall Plowing," 1931, oil on Masonite, City of Davenport Art Collection, Friends of Art Acquisition Fund, 1965.5

In "The Sorceress in Hades," David Teniers the Younger conjures a world of fire, ritual, and women with agency...at a co...
05/23/2026

In "The Sorceress in Hades," David Teniers the Younger conjures a world of fire, ritual, and women with agency...at a cost. This 17th-century Flemish painting is steeped in both theatricality and cautionary symbolism. It plays with fascination and fear, with feminine power and the supernatural. You could argue it’s not about witchcraft at all, but about how society may view women who defy expectations.

The painting never fully tells us who the sorceress is, only how she’s been framed. The rest is left to the viewer.

Now on view in “The Golden Age” at the Figge.
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🖼️ David Teniers the Younger (Belgian, b.1610, d.1690), “The Sorceress in Hades,” 1650s, Oil on wood panel, 20 x 26 1/4 inches, City of Davenport Art Collection, Gift of C. A. Ficke, 1925.282

05/21/2026

Looking forward to Chalk Art Fest and a week of community-centered arts programming across the Quad Cities! Don't miss next Thursday's chit chat with a visiting chalk artist (May 28) and a workshop at Quad City Arts on Friday, May 29.

For more information visit: https://www.quadcityarts.com/chalk-art-fest.html

A baby chick nearly stole the show.When Grant Wood painted "Portrait of Nan," he wanted something in the composition to ...
05/16/2026

A baby chick nearly stole the show.

When Grant Wood painted "Portrait of Nan," he wanted something in the composition to echo the color of his sister’s hair. Nan happened to be holding a chick she had brought home from the 10-cent store and eating a plum. Wood decided both should stay: the chick for her hair, the plum for the background.

The chick, apparently, adjusted quickly to studio life. According to Nan, it got used to Grant’s late-night painting hours, refused to go to bed early, and became “very choosy” about its food.

A portrait, a sibling story, and one very opinionated chicken.

See “Portrait of Nan” at the Figge for a limited time.

Grant Wood (American, 1891 - 1942), "Portrait of Nan," 1931, Oil on Masonite, 35.50 x 29.50 inches, image courtesy of Kiechel Fine Art.

Long before mass produced color images became common, images like William Henry Jackson’s "Pike’s Peak from near Colorad...
05/15/2026

Long before mass produced color images became common, images like William Henry Jackson’s "Pike’s Peak from near Colorado City" helped shape how Americans imagined the American West. Jackson traveled extensively throughout the western United States in the late 19th century, creating photographs that introduced many viewers to landscapes they would likely never see in person. Reproduced and circulated widely, his images helped turn places like Pike’s Peak into symbols of exploration, tourism, and national identity.

Even today, the towering mountains and rushing river still carry that same sense of scale and wonder.

Explore more from the Figge’s collection: https://collection.figgeartmuseum.org/explore
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🖼️ William Henry Jackson, Detroit Photographic Company, “Pike's Peak from near Colorado City (image # 51002),” c. 1890–1932, Photochrom, Figge Art Museum Collection, Gift of Caroline M. Baillon, 2016.19.1

Last week, over 30 students from Logan Junior High School’s after-school art club traveled over an hour for a “Look and...
05/13/2026

Last week, over 30 students from Logan Junior High School’s after-school art club traveled over an hour for a “Look and Do” tour at the Figge Art Museum.

Art teacher Sera Scott described the trip as “a great opportunity to go to a museum and see different types of artwork.” Students were especially fascinated by the blown glass in Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight, then created collages inspired by the exhibition.

Through “Look and Do” tours, students are invited to experience art as something active, approachable, and personal. They look closely, make something of their own, and leave with a deeper connection to both the artwork and the museum.

Grant Wood’s most famous painting, "American Gothic (1930)," portrayed two real people: his sister Nan and his dentist, ...
05/12/2026

Grant Wood’s most famous painting, "American Gothic (1930)," portrayed two real people: his sister Nan and his dentist, Dr. B. H. McKeeby. Although Wood originally described the painting as a married couple, Nan insisted it represented a father and daughter—and she wasn’t thrilled by its satirical edge.

The following year, Wood painted "Portrait of Nan." He wanted his sister to wear a polka-dot blouse, but when the fabric couldn’t be found, he improvised: a potato stamp, an old sheet, and Nan at a sewing machine under her brother’s direction. The chick and plum she holds echo the warm tones of her hair and the landscape behind her.

When Wood purchased his Iowa City home, he displayed this portrait in his living room and designed the space around it. Nan later recalled: “The wall-paper went with the painting and the furnishings and the rug repeated the colors. Even the fireplace was designed to set off the portrait.”

Nan sold the painting in 1944, two years after her brother’s death.

“It makes me very humble to think that out of all the paintings Grant ever did, my portrait was the only painting he kept and the only painting he had in his home.” — Nan Wood Graham

See "Portrait of Nan" at the Figge for a limited time, a brief chance to experience one of Grant Wood’s most personal paintings in person.
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🖼️ Grant Wood (American, 1891 - 1942), "Portrait of Nan," 1931, Oil on Masonite, 35.50 x 29.50 inches, image courtesy of Kiechel Fine Art.

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