Upon returning from the Yellowstone area, Moran began planning a major visual statement on the park. He painted a monumental painting of Yellowstone's Grand Canyon, which stretched about seven feet high by twelve feet across. The tremendous size of the painting was intended to present a sense of the immensity of the canyon itself. Moran wrote that artists often felt it was impossible to make good pictures of "strange and wonderful" scenes in nature. He added, "But I have always held that the Grandest, Most Beautiful, or Wonderful in Nature, would, in capable hands, make the grandest, most beautiful, or wonderful pictures, and that the business of a great painter should be the representation of great scenes in Nature. All the characteristics attach to the Yellowstone region . . . ." Moran felt this painting was to be his greatest accomplishment. It met with great acclaim, and he was able to convince Congress to purchase his painting. It is now on loan to the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.

Illustration: Thomas Moran, The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. 1872, oil on canvas. 84 x 144 ¼. Smithsonian American Art Museum, on loan from Department of the Interior.