Follow the Rainbow …

to the opening of Lure of the West: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, at the Orlando Museum of Art in Florida, starting today.

Thomas Moran's Rainbow over the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone awaits!

Moran could be a master of illusion. The world seems turned upside down as we plunge off a cliff into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The drama of light and dark—sun and shadow—creates agitation in the landscape. The turbulent sky and rushing water create an almost audible pandemonium. A vibrant rainbow emerges through the clouds, one of nature's most brilliant displays.

As an artist for the U.S. Geological Survey, Moran made many expeditions to the West. He saw Yellowstone for the first time in the summer of 1871 and returned regularly, painting the subject so often that he finally adopted a "Y" as part of his monogram signature. His ideal images were pivotal in convincing legislators in Washington that Yellowstone should be protected and preserved as the first national park.

Source: Amy Pastan. The Lure of the West: Treasures of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (New York and Washington, D.C.: Watson-Guptill Publications, in cooperation with the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2000).

Pictured: Thomas Moran, 1837 England–1926 USA, Rainbow over the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, 1900, oil, 30 1/8 x 37 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Marion H. Conley.