Painting reproduction hand painted
Parson Weems’ Fable (Wood)

“Parson Weems’ Fable” is an ironic and theatrical work painted by Grant Wood in 1939. It revisits the famous American myth according to which young George Washington, unable to tell a lie, confessed to chopping down his father’s cherry tree. In the foreground, Parson Mason Locke Weems, the author of this legend, pulls back a heavy fringed red curtain, inviting us to observe the scene. Surreally, Wood has adorned the little boy holding the hatchet with the austere adult face of Washington, as it appears on dollar bills, thereby emphasizing the artificial nature of the tale. The father, majestic in his red coat, extends an accusing hand toward the perfectly spherical tree. In the background, enslaved people are busy near a brick house, recalling the historical realities often erased by the founding myths of the American nation.