Manifest Destiny Painting Analysis The Significance of John Gast's American Progress (1872) Lesson Summary Frequently Asked Questions What does the woman represent in the Manifest Destiny painting? In John Gast's painting "American Progress," the woman in the center is known as Columbia. She rep...
Manifest Destiny Painting, 1872 John Gast, American Progress, 1872.Wikimedia. Columbia, the female figure of America, leads Americans into the West and into the future by carrying the values of republicanism (as seen through her Roman garb) and progress (shown through the inclusion of technologic...
To represent what Americans at the time thought of westward movement, Gast incorporated numerous symbols. The main symbol is Columbia, a large, beautiful, angel-like woman in the very center of the painting. Read Manifest Destiny Painting by John Gast | Overview & Analysis Lesson ...