Excelsior Geyser, Yellowstone Park
1873
Medium
Painting
Classification
Painting
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Armistead Peter III
Accession Number
1958.5.1
Tags
Art Historical Context
Thomas Moran's *Excelsior Geyser, Yellowstone Park* (1873) captures the raw majesty of one of America's most iconic natural wonders. As a leading figure in the Hudson River School, Moran was renowned for his luminous, romantic landscapes that celebrated the sublime beauty of the American West. This oil painting, now housed in the Smithsonian American Art Museum (gift of Mrs. Armistead Peter III), depicts the steaming Excelsior Geyser in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, surrounded by rugged mountains, the winding Yellowstone River, and resilient pine trees. Moran's work emerged from his par...
About the Artist
Thomas Moran · 1837–1926
Thomas Moran (1837–1926) was an American painter and printmaker of the Hudson River School whose dramatic paintings of the American West played a pivotal role in the creation of the national parks. Born in Bolton, Lancashire, England, he emigrated with his family to Philadelphia as a child. He was largely self-taught, though he apprenticed briefly with a wood engraver and studied the work of J.M.W...