An artwork on Galleree from Cleveland Museum of Art.
About the artwork
Smelting Works at Denver1892
Thomas Moran
For today's viewers of Thomas Moran’s watercolor, the sight of factory smoke pouring into pristine mountain air might prophesy environmental ruin. Yet within the context of America’s western expansion, the imagery of factories was more ambiguous. Some in Moran's time regarded the factories as a force of destruction, while others interpreted them as symbols of progress. Moran himself viewed Denver’s budding industry with enthusiasm, writing positively to his wife about the city’s growth since he first visited while part of a government survey in 1873. Two decades later, when Moran returned to Denver to paint advertisements for the Santa Fe Railroad, smelting—the extraction of metal from heated rock—had transformed the city into an industrial hub. Although the brooding tone of this watercolor is unlike the artist’s bright, misty-eyed paintings of Edenic splendor, his depiction of the west’s emerging industrial landscape reinforces the same myth of manifest destiny—the belief that settler conquest of Native American lands was inevitable and justified—by illustrating the land’s richness in natural resources. Like the English Romantic painter J. M. W. Turner, whose style he emulated, Moran was primarily interested in the pictorial possibilities of industry. In this impressionistic study, Moran manipulates gray wash and white gouache to capture the vaporous quality of smoke and clouds as the two substances, industrial and natural, dissipate into the yellow atmosphere.
Moran sketched this image while waiting for his travel arrangements to be resolved, having learned that he received a commission for a large painting of Wyoming for the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.
watercolor and gouache
Sheet: 24 x 31.8 cm (9 7/16 x 12 1/2 in.)
Bequest of Mrs. Henry A. Everett for the Dorothy Burnham Everett Memorial Collection
In the stillness of an afternoon, where nature and industry converge, there hangs a sense of nostalgia, tracing back to a time of bold exploration and inevitable change. Here stands Thomas Moran’s watercolor—a window into a world caught between the pristine beauty of the mountains and the relentless march of progress.
As the viewer gazes upon the canvas, factory smoke curls and mingles with the crisp mountain air, suggesting a future drenched in foreboding. Yet, during the days of America’s western expansion, this image was not so easily classified; it existed within a world painted in shades of gray—neither wholly good nor entirely bad.
In Moran's era, hearts and minds were divided. To some, the factories signified a ruinous force, dulling the splendor of untouched landscapes. But to others, they burst forth as symbols of progress and opportunity. Amidst this tumultuous backdrop, Moran held his own perspective. As he wandered the burgeoning streets of Denver, a city where he once tread as part of a government survey in 1873, he felt a pulse of excitement. In jovial letters to his wife, he shared the story of Denver’s metamorphosis, a city vibrant and alive, knitting itself into the fabric of the American dream.
When Moran returned two decades later, he encountered a transformation born of industry. Smelting—an alchemical dance of fire and stone—had rendered Denver a bustling industrial hub. This watercolor, imbued with a brooding tone distinct from his previous Edenic landscapes, nonetheless echoed the same thread of manifest destiny woven deep into the nation’s narrative. Here, the land was portrayed not just as a canvas of natural beauty, but as a treasure trove of resources ripe for the taking, reminding onlookers of the complex interplay between nature and civilization.
With careful strokes, Moran interlaces gray wash and white gouache, weaving a tapestry that captures the ephemeral mingling of smoke and clouds. The vaporous quality materializes before us, rendering a dreamy landscape where industry and nature dissipate into a golden-tinged atmosphere. Just as J. M. W. Turner, the English Romantic painter whom he admired, had once manipulated light to enchant viewers, Moran deftly dances upon the boundaries of this evolving world, revealing not just the physical spaces, but the stories of conflict, ambition, and inevitable change that lie within.
In this moment, surrounded by whispers of the past, we find ourselves reflecting on the delicate balance between progress and preservation, pondering what it truly means to navigate the wild terrains of ambition.
About the artist
Creating transformative experiences through art “for the benefit of all the people forever.”The Cleveland Museum of Art is renowned for the quality and breadth of its collection, which includes more than 66,500 artworks and spans 6,000 years of achievement in the arts. The artworks shared on this platform are sourced from the museum's Open Access data under the CC0 license. No endorsement is implied.Address: 11150 East Boulevard, Cleveland, OH, USA 44106
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