Sam’s Dream

“Sam’s Dream”

Ralph Fasanella decried the breakup of vibrant working-class communities. He felt strongly that the dream of a better life in the suburbs was an illusion, and that suburban existence would be desolate and isolating. In this painting, Fasanella expresses his reaction to his brother Sam’s desire to move out of the city by juxtaposing a lively series of tenement apartments in the middle of the painting to an empty landscape with a house and store at the top.

Painting by Ralph Fasanella from the Fasanella Family collection.

See the Ralph Fasanella exhibit for more information.