A painting of a vast desert landscape with a prominent, sunlit red rock and sandstone cliff under a partially cloudy sky. The cliff is painted in warm tones of orange, pink and yellow, contrasting with the cooler robin's egg blue of the sky above it and olive and sage greens of the land below it.

Edgar Alwin Payne

Mesa Redonia

About 1909–1942

Oil on canvas

24” W x 20” H

About this artwork

In his how-to book Composition of Outdoor Painting (1941), Payne described his lofty aim to share the “spiritual flow which encircles animate and inanimate nature—the rhythm of life and the universe” in his paintings. Mesa Redonia (the title appears to be a misnomer for an unidentified landmark) is a prime example of his use of brushstroke, color, and lighting to create atmospheric and mood effects and evoke a sense of awe and wonder.

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Gallup’s New Deal art collection consists of over 120 objects created, purchased, or donated from 1933 to 1942 through New Deal federal art programs administered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to support artists during the Great Depression.

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