Thomas Moran

Music to accompany this page:
Go West, by The Pet Shop Boys

Moran made plans to return west with another of his brothers, Peter, to gather material for more paintings. The pair travel throughout the Sierra Nevada range stopping outside of Salt Lake City and Lake Tahoe to sketch, before heading up toward the Snake River in Idaho. The brothers stopped by the Teton Mountains, where Thomas was able to view the Teton peak that Hayden had named "Mount Moran" in his honor. Moran returned to his studio after the trip, painting The Three Tetons.

Moran joined his longtime friend Jackson, during 1892, when they returned to the Grand Canyon, and later Yellowstone. Resulting from this expedition were a painting titled Golden Gateway to the Yellowstone and a sketch, which he called In the Lava Beds.

During this period, Thomas Moran continued to also paint the Long Island landscapes, that had become favored in the east coast market. While he enjoyed the subject matter, he stated to a reporter, "I prefer to paint western scenes, but the Eastern people don't appreciate the grand scenery of the Rockies. They are not familiar with mountain effects and it is much easier to sell a picture of a Long Island swamp than the grandest picture of Colorado." Moran's colleagues marveled at his dual ability to vividly portray the American wilderness of the west, and the paint serene views like, June, East Hampton.

After the death of his wife in 1900, Thomas Moran returned to Yellowstone with his youngest daughter Ruth. In route to Yellowstone, they stopped in Utah and Idaho, where they journeyed by stage coach to Shoshone Falls on the Snake River. It was here that Moran created the last of his great major western landscape. Shoshone Falls on the Snake River, measured an impressive six by 11 feet, suggesting that Moran had hoped it be part of a special exhibition. The following year, the painting took the silver medal at the Pan-American Exposition, but strangely, it remained unsold at the time of his death. Moran's interpretation of Shoshone Falls would be one of the last, as a reclamation project, utilizing the Snake River as a source of irrigation water, began in the next decade.

Thomas and Ruth would return to the Grand Canyon over the next two decades, for the winter months. Moran offered paintings of the canyon in exchange for rail passes and hotel accommodations. They images were used in advertisements in hotels, offices, railway cars, and even on stationary and calendars. He also entered into a business relationship with the Santa Fe Railroad, which had commissioned him to produce a painting of the Grand Canyon, for marketing purposes. Moran, soon became closely identified with the Grand Canyon, and the railroad used his image in their advertisements.

Thomas Moran would eventually be known as the "father" of the national park system. His paintings of landscapes brought the western wilderness to the attention of the country. While the parks have been protected by actions of Congress, business has prospered outside the park gates. Moran maintained his love for the beauty of the American wilderness throughout it life, and continued painting it well into the 1920's. After returning from a trip to Europe, Moran proclaimed, "I looked at the Alps, but they are nothing compared to the majestic grandeur of our wonderful Rockies. I have painted them all my life and I shall continue to paint them as long as I can hold a brush. I am working as hard as I ever did...." Moran died on August 25, 1926, at the age of 89 at his home in Santa Barbara, California.

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