Indian Moonlight (Luz de luna indígena)

Olaf Wieghorst, American, 1899 - 1988, born in Denmark

20th century

painting

oil on canvas

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Walter E. Remmers through Western Art Associates

1977.221

© Phoenix Art Museum. All rights reserved. Photo by Mike Lundgren.

American and Western American

Yes

North Wing, Second Floor, Western American

In contrast to many of his contemporaries, Olaf Wieghorst was a self-taught artist. “My greatest teacher has been the horse, observing and sketching horses in every kind of circumstance made me the painter I am.” At age nineteen, Wieghorst immigrated to the United States after working as a stunt rider for the Danish Circus. His Western subjects were drawn from his service in the United States Cavalry along the Mexican border and time as a ranch wrangler in New Mexico and Arizona. This meditative canvas depicts two Indigenous people who have stopped for the night in a remote part of Arizona.