Grant Wood Auction Prices and Value Guide

Grant Wood auction prices are tracked in Appraisily's artist market index, with source-directory coverage of 1,016 records. Use this page to review sold-lot activity, market context, and valuation factors before requesting a formal appraisal.

Grant Wood auction prices: quick answer

Grant Wood auction prices depend on medium, size, date, condition, provenance, edition details, attribution confidence, and recent comparable auction sales.

Artist
Grant Wood
Source records
1,016
Market update
2026-02-16

Artist context

About Grant Wood

Grant DeVolson Wood (1891–1942) was an American painter, printmaker, and sculptor who became the defining voice of American Regionalism. Born in Anamosa, Iowa, and based in Cedar Rapids for most of his career, Wood turned his native Midwest into a subject of national attention. His best-known work, American Gothic (1930), is among the most recognized paintings in American art. Alongside Thomas Hart Benton and John Steuart Curry, Wood championed a figurative, place-based alternative to European modernism during the interwar period. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and traveled to Europe, where exposure to Northern Renaissance painting deeply influenced his precise, tightly rendered style. Wood also founded the Stone City Art Colony and served as a professor at the University of Iowa, shaping a generation of Midwestern artists. His lithographs, drawings, and lesser-known canvases appear regularly at auction and remain sought after by collectors of American art.

American RegionalismOil paintingLithographyDrawingSculptureRural American Midwest landscapes and figuresPortraitureFarm and agrarian life

Common works and media

Collectors are most likely to encounter Wood's lithographic prints (such as Tree Planting, Fertility, and Sultry Night), charcoal or pencil drawings, oil on canvas or panel paintings, murals and public commissions, and poster or exhibition reprint editions. His subjects center on Iowa landscapes, farm scenes, portraits of rural figures, and stylized Midwestern imagery. Stone City and Daughters of Revolution are among his frequently referenced works beyond American Gothic.

Market and appraisal context

Grant Wood's auction market is well-established and liquid, with 541 total lots and 460 priced records spanning over three decades (1994–2026). Ten named auction houses—including Christie's, Sotheby's, Bonhams, Swann Auction Galleries, Heritage Auctions, and Rago Arts and Auction Center—consistently offer Wood material, reflecting sustained institutional demand. The price distribution is wide but heavily concentrated in the mid-four-figure range for prints and works on paper: median price $3,100, interquartile range $1,800–$4,481. The ceiling is defined by rare, museum-quality works; the current record in this dataset is $1,565,000. A notable recent result is the pencil study for American Gothic that realized $584,200 at Christie's in January 2026, demonstrating that preparatory works and studies connected to Wood's iconic paintings carry significant premiums. Lithographic prints from the 1930s and early 1940s (Fertility, February, Tree Planting, Approaching Storm, Seed Time and Harvest, Sultry Night, Midnight Alarm, Honorary Degree, December Afternoon) represent the bulk of traded material and typically realize between $1,200 and $6,100, with condition, impression quality, and margin completeness driving variance. The market showed a modest volume decline from 57 lots in the prior 12-month window to 41 lots in the most recent 12 months, but pricing remained stable, suggesting steady collector interest rather than speculative fluctuation.

Auction categories and appraisal factors

Common auction categories

  • Lithography
  • Drawing
  • Oil painting
  • Sculpture
  • Works on paper

Value drivers

  1. [object Object]

Appraisal caveats

  • Original Grant Wood oil paintings rarely appear at public auction; most are held in museum permanent collections.
  • The Invaluable/Appraisily dataset (1,016 recorded lots) suggests the majority of auction appearances are prints, posters, and works on paper rather than major paintings.
  • Market context here reflects general auction patterns; individual appraisal requires direct examination and comparable sale analysis.
  • The 541-lot dataset includes prints, posters, reproduction editions, and attributed works alongside original paintings and drawings; the $1,565,000 maximum reflects an outlier, and the median of $3,100 is the more representative benchmark for typical Wood material at auction.

Evidence

Sources for artist context

This source-grounded artist context passed Appraisily's promotion threshold: high confidence, strong sources.

Source-grounded artist Markdown

Data basis

This page is built from Appraisily's public auction market index. Private transactions, incomplete sale feeds, and attribution changes may not be fully represented.

LLM-readable Markdown summary for Grant Wood

LLM summary index · LLM full index

Artist value FAQ

How much is Grant Wood worth?

Comparable public auction sales are the best starting point, but final value depends on the specific artwork, condition, size, medium, provenance, and attribution confidence.

Can Appraisily value my Grant Wood artwork?

Yes. Appraisily can review photos, dimensions, signatures, condition, provenance, and comparable market data to prepare a current valuation.