Grant Wood was a self-taught artist from Cedar Rapids, Iowa who painted small town America during the depression years. Known as the "painter in overalls", his landscapes featured rolling hills, fluffy trees, country roads, and still, silent scenes through his stylized use of geometric shapes, ovals, circles and curves to create a sense of distance. Wood's Regionalist style focused on distinctly American rural subjects inspired by his time in Iowa, where he said "all my really good ideas came to me while milking a cow."