Cliffs of the Upper Colorado River Wyoming Territory 

Curator: My first impression is that this is a place of almost Biblical drama, a space of encounter and reckoning. Editor: Indeed. What we have here is Thomas Moran's "Cliffs of the Upper Colorado River, Wyoming Territory." Though undated, it exemplifies Moran's Romantic vision of the American West. Curator: The rain cascading down in sheets really sets a stage for something epic. Is it judgment? Renewal? And then you see figures, small but present. Who are they, and what are they facing here? Editor: Symbolically, water often represents purification or cleansing, but also the force of nature—unpredictable and sometimes destructive. Notice the figures on horseback, likely Indigenous peoples, placed against the monumental landscape. Their presence, their connection with the land, has become a focal point within current discourse of landscape art. Curator: Absolutely. I see how Moran’s rendering elevates and simultaneously diminishes. The sheer scale of the natural world almost swallows these human figures. It speaks volumes about the prevailing power dynamics. How are we to read these images today, aware as we are of their historical baggage in promoting manifest destiny and westward expansion? Editor: We see the same dynamic within other pieces produced in the Hudson River School, in which light acts as a beacon—a call to expansion. Moran masterfully utilizes the dramatic chiaroscuro of light and shadow, a Romantic hallmark that conveys both grandeur and the sublime terror of nature. Curator: The Hudson River School aesthetic itself served a colonial project, portraying the landscape as both powerful and ripe for taking. Are we then to find in this painting simply a symbol for nature or for erasure, a representation of power or for dispossession? Editor: These landscapes provided visual justification for that colonial impulse. Curator: So, in contemplating "Cliffs of the Upper Colorado River, Wyoming Territory" today, it prompts essential reflections on the artistic legacies we've inherited. Editor: By unveiling and examining these latent, often painful, narratives, we create a space for open, continuous dialogue.