Thomas Moran

Born in England and raised in Philadelphia, Thomas Moran was almost entirely self-taught as an artist. Producing romantic landscapes in the tradition of Cole and Bierstadt, his career shifted in 1871 when the director of the United States Geological Survey invited him to join an expedition to what would become Yellowstone Park. The trip began one of the most inspired and productive periods of Moran's life, setting the tradition of American landscape painting on a modern, experimental trajectory.