Triangle Fire, March 25, 1911

When an accidental fire raced through the top three stories of the Triangle Waist Company factory in Greenwich Village, hundreds of blouse makers escaped on elevators and stairs. Others were blocked by a locked exit door or trapped on the fire escape. Firemen’s ladders could not reach them, and dozens of people jumped to their deaths. Twenty-one-year-old pipefitter Victor Joseph Gatto witnessed the fire from Washington Square Park. Over 30 years later, he painted this vivid depiction of the fire from memory.

Image Info: Victor Joseph Gatto, 1944-1945, oil on canvas

CREDIT: Museum of the City of New York, Gift of Mrs. Henry L. Moses, 54.75