''The Three Tetons'' is an 1895 oil painting by

Thomas Moran Thomas Moran (February 12, 1837 – August 25, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker of the Hudson River School in New York whose work often featured the Rocky Mountains. Moran and his family, wife Mary Nimmo Moran and daughter Ruth, took ...

. It depicts

Grand Teton Grand Teton is the highest mountain of the Teton Range in Grand Teton National Park at in Northwest Wyoming. Below its north face is Teton Glacier. The mountain is a classic destination in American mountaineering via the Owen-Spalding rout ...

and the neighbouring peaks of Middle Teton and South Teton, from the

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

side. The

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

describes Moran as, after

Albert Bierstadt Albert Bierstadt (January 7, 1830 – February 18, 1902) was a German American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. He joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion to paint the scenes. He was no ...

, the "other 'grand' painter of the Tetons". Moran sketched the

mountains from a distance in August 1879, and this painting is based on those sketches. It depicts the snow-clad mountains in the distance, catching the Sun below a hazy blue sky with light clouds, with the foreground dominated by dark pine trees around a lake and river. The painting measures , and is signed and dated in the lower left corner "TYMORAN 1895". Moran made at least two other oil paintings of the Tetons: ''The Teton Range'' (1897, Metropolitan Museum of Art), and ''In The Teton Range'' (1899, American Museum of Western Art). The painting was donated to the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

art collection by

C. R. Smith Cyrus Rowlett "C.R." Smith (September 9, 1899 – April 4, 1990) was the CEO of American Airlines from 1934 to 1968 and from 1973 to 1974. He was also the wartime deputy commander of the Air Transport Command during World War II, and the United ...

, president of

American Airlines American Airlines, Inc. is a major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the ...

. It is the earliest of three landscape paintings by Moran in the

art collection, the other two being his 1912 painting of

Point Lobos Point Lobos and the Point Lobos State Natural Reserve is a state park in California. Adjoining Point Lobos is "one of the richest marine habitats in California". The ocean habitat is protected by two marine protected areas, the Point Lobos Sta ...

Monterey Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a population of 30,218 in the 2020 census. The city was fou ...

and a 1909-1910 painting of the cliffs of the

Green River, Wyoming Green River is a city in and the county seat of Sweetwater County, Wyoming, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 11,825 at the 2020 census. It is the 7th most populous city in Wyoming. History The townsi ...

. ''The Three Tetons'' has been displayed in the

Oval Office The Oval Office is the formal working space of the president of the United States. Part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, it is in the West Wing of the White House, in Washington, D.C. The oval room has three lar ...

in the presidencies of

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

, and

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

to the right of

Rembrandt Peale Rembrandt Peale (February 22, 1778 – October 3, 1860) was an American artist and museum keeper. A prolific portrait painter, he was especially acclaimed for his likenesses of presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Peale's style wa ...

's 1795 '' Porthole Portrait of George Washington''.

Gallery

File:Barack Obama meets Shimon Peres in the Oval Office.jpg, ''The Three Tetons'', in the Oval Office in 2009 (on the right) File:The Teton Range MET DT227318.jpg, ''The Teton Range'', 1897, Metropolitan Museum of Art File:Thomas Moran - Point Lobos, Monterey, California.jpg, ''Point Lobos, Monterey, California'', 1910, White House art collection

References

''The Three Tetons''
White House art collection

William H. Goetzmann, National Park Service * ttps://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/11600 ''The Teton Range'' Metropolitan Museum of Art
''Point Lobos, Monterey, California''
White House art collection
''Cliffs of the Green River, Wyoming''
White House art collection
''Thomas Moran''
Yale University Press, p.151 {{DEFAULTSORT:Three Tetons, The 1895 paintings Paintings by Thomas Moran Art in the White House Landscape paintings Oil on canvas paintings Sun in art Rivers in art Mountains in culture Works about Idaho

Gallery

See also

References