US Highway 1

Allan D'Arcangelo, US Highway 1, 1962, acrylic on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by the American Art Forum, 2011.13, © 1962, D'Arcangelo Family Partnership
Copied Allan D'Arcangelo, US Highway 1, 1962, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 55 in. (121.9 x 139.7 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by the American Art Forum, 2011.13, © 1962, D'Arcangelo Family Partnership

Artwork Details

Title
US Highway 1
Artist
Date
1962
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
48 x 55 in. (121.9 x 139.7 cm)
Copyright
© 1962, D'Arcangelo Family Partnership
Credit Line
Museum purchase made possible by the American Art Forum
Mediums
Mediums Description
acrylic on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Landscape — road — Highway 1
  • Object — other — sign
Object Number
2011.13
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2011.13

Artwork Description

The quiet melancholy of D'Arcangelo's highway paintings echoes the ambivalence felt by many Americans during the development of the Interstate Highway System in the 1960s. While offering improved speed, safety, and efficiency, the expanded road system replaced the romantic notion of the open road offered by writers like Jack Kerouac with a new reality of monotonous travel across a standardized commercial landscape. In US Highway 1, the road seen through the windshield blends with the surrounding trees as the sky darkens and a hill blocks a longer view. The hypnotic repetition of white road markings and signs that seem to float in the twilight suggest the suspension of time and an indifference to place. With no destination or even exit ramps in sight, the driver is alone, hurtling forward with the motion of the car.