Nearing Camp by Thomas Moran

Nearing Camp, Evening on the Upper Colorado River, Wyoming, 1882

Thomas Moran (1837-1926)

Oil on canvas

This picture is one of several versions of a subject Moran associated with his first discovery of the American West. On his journey to join Hayden’s survey expedition in 1871, Moran passed through the small town of Green River and made a drawing of the cliffs.

A later visit in 1879 produced further sketches, which resulted in a large oil painting (now in a private collection) and this one. Moran used his artistic licence to great effect – eliminating the small town, increasing the depth of colour in the rocks by showing them during a glowing sunset, and adding a picturesque group of Indians.

The painting was brought to Britain in 1882 by Moran and almost immediately sold to a collector, in whose family it remained, until the museum purchased it after a huge fund-raising campaign.

Purchased in 1998 with the aid of:
The Heritage Lottery Fund; J B Gass Charitable Trust; The National Art Collections Fund; The Friends of Bolton Museum and Art Gallery; The Pilgrim Trust; Richard Green Gallery; The Granada Foundation; The Foundation for Sport and the Arts; Pyms Gallery; Cheetham Hill Construction Ltd and many public donations.