There are thousands of murals in the Midwest. Many of them are in post offices and were completed through the Section of Fine Arts under the auspices of the Treasury Department during the New Deal era. Most of the artists are virtually unknown today but some, such as Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart Curry and J.B. Turnbull, went onto become quite well known.
Everyday life is the primary subject matter in most of the murals.
In rural post offices the murals depict farm life or country scenes and in the government and services sites of the bigger cities the murals tend to be of a more industrial nature. But no matter what the location, the underlying themes remained true to the values of the day-progress, hope and hard work. We have listed here only murals painted by the artists in Illusions of Eden . As the resources on this site continue to evolve, we will add images of as many murals as possible. Joe Jones Husking Corn 1941 mural Dimensions Unavailable Dexter P.O. MO Thomas Hart Benton A Social History of the State of Missouri 1936 egg tempera and oil on linen mounted on panel 170' NE State Capital, House of Representatives' Lounge, Jefferson City NE Dale Nichols Road to Adventure unknown oil on canvas Dimensions Unavailable Joslyn Art Museum NE Gladys Lux March 1940 oil on canvas Dimensions Unavailable Miller and Paine Dept.