Human Verified

Cliffs of the Upper Colorado River, Wyoming Territory

by Thomas Moran

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
40.5 x 61.0 cm (16 x 24 inches)
Year
1882
Availability
In a museum collection, not for sale
Collection
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Accession Number
1936.12.4
Credit Line
Bequest of Henry Ward Ranger through the National Academy of Design
Copyright
Public domain, museum record marked free to use
See the Full Artist Record

Check this work in the holding collection's own record

Description

Sandstone cliffs above the Green River in Wyoming, with riders crossing the foreground and a thunderstorm stacking up behind. The scale of the rock is the whole point of the picture.

How It Was Made, and What Changed

Moran painted this in 1882 from a visit he made to the Green River area around a decade earlier. By 1882 there was a settlement there. He left it out and put Native riders on horseback in its place, which made the country look untouched. The Smithsonian record says plainly that work like this was made for the railroad market, because romantic pictures of the West sold tickets and sold land.