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Thomas Moran, ‘Green River Cliffs, Wyoming,’ 1881, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of the Milligan and Thomson Families.

National Gallery gets the big picture: 1881 painting by Thomas Moran

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf

Thomas Moran, ‘Green River Cliffs, Wyoming,’ 1881, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of the Milligan and Thomson Families.
Thomas Moran, ‘Green River Cliffs, Wyoming,’ 1881, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of the Milligan and Thomson Families.
WASHINGTON (AP) – The National Gallery of Art in Washington has acquired the celebrated landscape painting Green River Cliffs, Wyoming by 19th-century American artist Thomas Moran.

The painting goes on view Friday and will remain in a special installation through June. It is a gift of collector Vern Milligan and his two children.

Green River was featured in a 1997 retrospective of Moran’s work at the gallery. Milligan purchased the painting at auction in 1994 for $2.7 million.

Gallery Director Earl A. Powell III said the museum was lacking a grand, panoramic view of the American West.

Moran (1837–1926) completed the work 10 years after his first trip west in 1871. It is considered to be the most stunning of all his Green River paintings.

His work has been increasing in value in recent years. A 1878 Moran piece sold for $17.7 million in 2008.

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Online:

National Gallery of Art: http://www.nga.gov/

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AP-WS-03-04-11 1119EST

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Thomas Moran, ‘Green River Cliffs, Wyoming,’ 1881, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of the Milligan and Thomson Families.
Thomas Moran, ‘Green River Cliffs, Wyoming,’ 1881, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of the Milligan and Thomson Families.