Part 1--Possible statements the artist attempted to convey through the piece:
I think the main statement that is made in this piece is just how hard the great depression was on the people in America. So often we look back at the great depression as an event and we don't truly grasp how it devastated families. Take the men on the train, for example. They are forced to move from place to place to find work. They don't have homes because they are forced to start over so often. What they do have is hope. Hope that the next place will be better, will have more jobs. Hope that they might get to settle down again. Hope that they might just make it through another day. What they also have is disappointment, hence the need to board the train once again and try and start afresh. I think the main focus of this painting is the people, which is interesting because the focal point seems to be the scenery. I think this is significant because the artist uses the scenery to showcase the people and their struggles. The scene behind them is so large and they are so small, and I really think that show how the Great Depression must have felt. It was such a big force, and it must have felt insurmountable.
Part 2--Symbolic elements present in the piece:
There are many symbolic elements in this piece. One of them is that the people don't really have faces. I think this represents that people in that time period were, in some sense, all the same. They were all poor, all out of work, all looking to take care of their families. Their identities didn't matter, the only thing that mattered was that they got through the day. Another symbolic element is the train. This symbolizes that people were having to move around. Because jobs were so scarce, people often times had to move to find another job, and sometimes they just had to move to a smaller house because they could no longer afford their own home. Another symbolic element is the ground in the background. It is empty, and dry. This represents the many droughts that destroyed farmers, and it also represents that many farmers had to pack up and leave their farms.
Part 3--Themes that arise from the piece:
I think the main theme the artist wanted to show with this piece was desolation. This painting was created during the Great Depression, a time where America was in tatters. The dust bowl forced many people to have to leave their homes and go elsewhere to find work, the stock market crashed bankrupting many, and to top it all off, most people were too proud to take advantage of the government's help. The country was being torn apart. This painting is seemingly peaceful, but that is the problem. It is TOO peaceful. Life isn't peaceful, and when it is this peaceful it is only because people have given up. This peace is eerily calm to show how the country's devastation is affecting it's citizens.
Part 4--Artistic and/or historic importance of the piece:
The historic importance of this piece is that it shows the people's side of the story. Many of the paintings surrounding the Great Depression are of the land, or are depictions of the economic crisis, but this painting so simply, and yet so symbolically, shows how the Great Depression must have really felt to the people.
I think the main statement that is made in this piece is just how hard the great depression was on the people in America. So often we look back at the great depression as an event and we don't truly grasp how it devastated families. Take the men on the train, for example. They are forced to move from place to place to find work. They don't have homes because they are forced to start over so often. What they do have is hope. Hope that the next place will be better, will have more jobs. Hope that they might get to settle down again. Hope that they might just make it through another day. What they also have is disappointment, hence the need to board the train once again and try and start afresh. I think the main focus of this painting is the people, which is interesting because the focal point seems to be the scenery. I think this is significant because the artist uses the scenery to showcase the people and their struggles. The scene behind them is so large and they are so small, and I really think that show how the Great Depression must have felt. It was such a big force, and it must have felt insurmountable.
Part 2--Symbolic elements present in the piece:
There are many symbolic elements in this piece. One of them is that the people don't really have faces. I think this represents that people in that time period were, in some sense, all the same. They were all poor, all out of work, all looking to take care of their families. Their identities didn't matter, the only thing that mattered was that they got through the day. Another symbolic element is the train. This symbolizes that people were having to move around. Because jobs were so scarce, people often times had to move to find another job, and sometimes they just had to move to a smaller house because they could no longer afford their own home. Another symbolic element is the ground in the background. It is empty, and dry. This represents the many droughts that destroyed farmers, and it also represents that many farmers had to pack up and leave their farms.
Part 3--Themes that arise from the piece:
I think the main theme the artist wanted to show with this piece was desolation. This painting was created during the Great Depression, a time where America was in tatters. The dust bowl forced many people to have to leave their homes and go elsewhere to find work, the stock market crashed bankrupting many, and to top it all off, most people were too proud to take advantage of the government's help. The country was being torn apart. This painting is seemingly peaceful, but that is the problem. It is TOO peaceful. Life isn't peaceful, and when it is this peaceful it is only because people have given up. This peace is eerily calm to show how the country's devastation is affecting it's citizens.
Part 4--Artistic and/or historic importance of the piece:
The historic importance of this piece is that it shows the people's side of the story. Many of the paintings surrounding the Great Depression are of the land, or are depictions of the economic crisis, but this painting so simply, and yet so symbolically, shows how the Great Depression must have really felt to the people.