Made by an American not imported.

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  4. This is perhaps not a super impressive artwork, but I’m obsessed with this small painting in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It’s called [*Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky.*](https://philamuseum.org/collection/object/57044) It depicts Ben Franklin in his kite experiment, surrounded by cherubim pulling at the kite strings.

    It’s in a similar vein to the *Apotheosis of Washington* in the rotunda of the Capitol Building. One of our Founding Fathers depicted like classical mythology.

  7. The Artist and his Mother by Arshile Gorky at the Whitney

    House by the Railroad by Hopper at MoMA

    Untitled Night Scene by H.F. Bell at the Newark Museum

    Approaching Thunder Storm by Martin Johnson Heade at the Met Museum

  8. The Price by Tom Lea. It’s absolutely raw, horrific, and more real than any art I’ve seen.

  9. It’s either ‘Nighthawks’ by Edward Hopper or Ivan Albright’s ‘Picture of Dorian Gray’. But as a former art student, having to pick just one favorite is killing me.

  13. Boneyard by Geoffrey Farmer: https://catrionajeffries.com/artists/geoffrey-farmer/works/geoffrey-farmer-boneyard-2013

    It’s a sculpture made from 1,200 paper cutouts of art pieces from around the world, arranged around a circular table so that older works from ancient history are at the edge and they get progressively more recent as they approach the middle. Everything is placed such that it shares some styles or forms with its neighbors both to the sides and chronologically, showing a globe-and-millennia-spanning interconnected network of artistic influences and inspirations coming together to shape modern aesthetics. It’s an incredibly cool concept and infinitely fascinating to look at.

  17. I’d be hard pressed to name an American artist other than Andy Warhol or Norman Rockwell, let alone a specific work. Which is a little odd – my visual arts background is pretty minimal, but I could still name a good many more European artists.

  18. When I was younger, I thought “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte” was a Chicago scene and I just loved it because it sat in the Art Institute and alas… tis French haha 😂

  20. For local jokes, it’d be the picturesque Moon over Homewood.

    But on a more artistic bent, Christina’s World was always memorable to me for some odd reason, and I don’t know why.

  21. Christina’s World will mess you up far more than Mona Lisa’s smile.

    And do remember, when our civilization dies, our proudest pieces are film and music.

  23. My actual favorite was already mentioned, so I’ll go with another favorite… [The Shiner](https://www.artchive.com/artwork/girl-with-black-eye-norman-rockwell-1953/) by Norman Rockwell. I love it because it tells a funny story. The girl is sitting outside the principals office, so you know she is in trouble. She has a black eye, so that trouble was probably a fight. And she is smiling, so you know who won the fight. It’s an entire story told in a single painting. From clues in the picture, you can imagine all the moments that lead up to the still. You get a sense of what kind of person this girl is. It’s creative, playful, and bold.

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