COLORS IN THE WESTERN MOONLIGHT

Cowboy illustrator Frederic Remington seemed to find a whole rainbow of luminous colors in the night.









When other painters might reach for a dark blue, Remington reaches for greens and purples and violets.





Did Remington actually see these colors in nature? Even Cezanne, the grandaddy of abstract art, recognized that "painting from nature is not copying the object; it is realizing one's sensations."

To understand more about Remington's "sensations," look at his pictures contrasting the light from the immense night sky with the tiny, fragile light of humans.







It must have been easy to feel insignificant and defenseless camping out all alone under the huge western sky.

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