Acoma; The Rocks of Acoma, N.M.

Thomas Moran painted 'Acoma; The Rocks of Acoma, N.M.' in 1904, returning to the American Southwest that had occupied his imagination since his landmark Grand Canyon and Yellowstone paintings of the 1870s. Acoma Pueblo, built atop a sandstone mesa in New Mexico, was one of North America's oldest continuously inhabited settlements, and its dramatic geological setting—sheer cliffs rising from the desert floor—suited Moran's interest in the sublime American landscape. By 1904 he was the pre-eminent painter of western scenery, and the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa holds this late example of his monumental landscape vision.

Moran renders the mesa's sandstone geology with the warm orange-red palette characteristic of his Southwest work—the ancient rock formations given weight and geological specificity through careful modelling of light and shadow on their eroded surfaces. The expansive sky above and desert floor below provide tonal contrast.