Thomas Moran
Excelsior Geyser, Yellowstone Park1873
watercolor and pencil
12 1/2 x 9 3/4 in.
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Armistead Peter III
Thomas Moran's daughter Ruth recalled the importance of her father's excursions to Yellowstone: "Every artist of genius experiences during his life a great spiritual revelation and upheaval. This revelation came to Thomas Moran as he journeyed on horseback through an almost unbelievable wilderness. To him it was all grandeur, beauty, color and light—nothing of man at all, but nature, virgin, unspoiled and lovely. In the Yellowstone country he found fairy-like color and form that his dreams could not rival."
