candidate: The Depression - era understanding of the painting as a depiction of an authentically American scene prompted the first well - known parody , a 1942 photo by Gordon Parks of cleaning woman Ella Watson , shot in Washington , D.C . " American Gothic " is one of the few paintings to achieve iconic cultural status , along with Leonardo da Vinci 's " Mona Lisa " and Edvard Munch 's " The Scream " .