Best known for his sympathetic portrayal of urban life in New York in the early twentieth century, John Sloan began spending four months every summer in Santa Fe, New Mexico, starting in 1919. The southwest offered a fresh landscape and novel experiences that inspired a new body of work. Travelling Carnival, Santa Fe depicts a bustling microcosm not unlike the streets of New York. Instead of ethnic quarters teeming with new immigrants, however, Sloan shows the diverse inhabitants of a southwest gathering for an evening of fun. The carousel whirls with bob-haired flappers aboard while the Ferris wheel's lights glitter in the background above crowds of Native Americans, farmers, and townspeople.