Blumenschein was a student of painting at the AcademieJulian in Paris when he met Joseph Sharp and Bert Phillipsin 1895. On the advice of Sharp, who had already been toNew Mexico, Blumenschein and Phillips made a sketchingtrip to Taos in 1898 where Blumenschein settledpermanently in 1919.

I am wildly enthusiastic over my surroundings.Everything about me is inspiring me to work. Greatmountain ranges that become as clear to one as a friend,landscapes, big and beautiful, deserts reflecting a vastsky, and you feel you are a part of it all and are neveralone.

Ernest L. Blumenschein, letter, 1901