Migrant Mother

Migrant Mother
Artist	Dorothea Lange
Year	1936
Catalogue	50989
Medium	gelatin silver print photograph
Subject	Florence Owens Thompson
Dimensions	28.3 cm × 21.8 cm (11.1 in × 8.6 in)
Location	Museum of Modern Art, New York
Accession	331.1995

Migrant Mother is a photograph taken in 1936 in Nipomo, California, by American photographer Dorothea Lange^[1] during her time with the Resettlement Administration (later the Farm Security Administration).^[2] The 28.3 by 21.8 cm (11 1/8 by 8 9/16 in) gelatin silver print depicts a mother anxiously gazing into the distance, with an infant in her lap and two older children huddling close by. The photo captures the plight of migrant farm workers who arrived in California en masse looking for employment during the Great Depression. Initially anonymous, the woman in the photo was identified as Florence Owens Thompson in 1978, following the work of a journalist for the California-based newspaper Modesto Bee.^[3]

Since its publication, Lange's work has become an icon of the Great Depression. It is in the public domain and has been widely reproduced in educational material, advertisements, and other media. Today, Migrant Mother is considered to be a part of the classic canon of American art and international photography. A print is housed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.^[4]