The Teton Range 

Thomas Moran created this landscape, titled 'The Teton Range', as a picturesque oil painting. It’s a stunning vista of the American West that speaks to the cultural and political moment in which it was made. Looking closely, you can see how Moran uses light and shadow to create a sense of drama and sublime beauty, but what does this idealized vision really tell us? Artists like Moran were hugely important in shaping how Americans saw the West. His images helped to fuel the idea of Manifest Destiny – the belief that it was America’s right and duty to expand across the continent. But this expansion came at a cost to the Native American populations who already inhabited these lands. By focusing on the unspoiled beauty of the landscape, artists often ignored the human cost of westward expansion, perpetuating a narrative of empty wilderness waiting to be claimed. To understand this painting fully, we need to look at historical sources: maps, travel writing, and political documents, alongside Native American voices, to provide a fuller picture of the West. We can then begin to understand the complex social and political forces that shaped not only the landscape itself, but also its artistic representation.