Tax Day Brings a Herculean Task!

Take a break from your taxing labors to learn more about this mythic American painting by Thomas Hart Benton on a virtual tour with Smithsonian American Art Museum Director Elizabeth Broun.

Artist Thomas Hart Benton, born this day in 1889, was no stranger to Washington D.C., home to so many government buildings.

As a youth, Benton spent many hours studying classical murals in the then—new Library of Congress in Washington—his father served as a congressman from Missouri from 1897 to 1904. Benton's interest in mythology was shared by the abstract artists of his generation.

In this work, Hercules wrestles Achelous, a river god who assumes the form of a giant bull, for the favors of Deianeira. Hercules breaks off one horn, which then is miraculously transformed into a cornucopia or horn of plenty. Throughout the mural, America is presented as a land of abundance and opportunity.

Source: Elizabeth Broun, National Museum of American Art Newsletter, May 1985, quoted in the museum's publication National Museum of American Art, 1995.

Pictured: Thomas Hart Benton, (1889–1975), Achelous and Hercules,1947, tempera and oil, 62 7/8 x 264 1/8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Allied Stores Corporation, and museum purchase through the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program.