National Gallery acquires 1881 landscape by Thomas Moran

The National Gallery of Art has acquired a key landscape of the untamed American West, its third painting by the celebrated 19th century artist Thomas Moran.

"Green River Cliffs,Wyoming," painted in 1881 and one of the artist's most famous paintings, has been added to the collection, the gallery announced.

The painting, a dramatic sweeping view of the West's natural wonders, was installed late Thursday outside the American galleries on the main floor of the museum's West Building.

"Green River," which was featured in the painter's retrospective at the gallery in 1997, is a gift of Vern Milligan, a longtime collector of Western Art and his two children. Milligan purchased "Green River" at auction in 1994 for $2.7 million and has kept it in his private collection, according to the gallery....