The Mississippi
- Date
- 1935
- Material
- Tempera on canvas mounted on panel
- depicts
- United States, North and Central America
- made in
- United States, North and Central America
- Classification
- Paintings
- Collection
- American Art
- Current Location
- On View, Gallery 333
- Dimensions
- 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm)
framed: 42 1/2 x 54 1/2 in. (108 x 138.4 cm) - Credit Line
- Museum Purchase
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 7:1937
NOTES
A family and their soaked cat cling to the roof of a house adrift in the muddy turbulence of floodwater. The father’s raised hands calling on divine aid are silhouetted against a break of light, suggesting hope for the dire situation.
This painting is based on a 1927 flood that was among the nation’s most destructive. It covered 27,000 square miles, displacing over 200,000 African Americans and enlarging the Mississippi River at one point to a width of 60 miles. It was, however, only one of the many floods that plagued the nation’s rural populations in the 1920s and 1930s.
This painting is based on a 1927 flood that was among the nation’s most destructive. It covered 27,000 square miles, displacing over 200,000 African Americans and enlarging the Mississippi River at one point to a width of 60 miles. It was, however, only one of the many floods that plagued the nation’s rural populations in the 1920s and 1930s.
Provenance
- 1937
Walker Art Galleries, Inc., New York, NY
1937 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Walker Art Galleries, Inc.
Notes:
Invoice from Walker Art Galleries, Inc. [dated January 14, 1937, SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, January 14, 1937.
Walker Art Galleries, Inc., New York, NY
1937 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Walker Art Galleries, Inc.
Notes:
Invoice from Walker Art Galleries, Inc. [dated January 14, 1937, SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, January 14, 1937.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.