Autumnal forest landscape with a figure in motion in the center of the frame
Image Credit

John E. Thompson, Colorado Landscape, 1914. Oil paint on panel; 12 x 12 in. The Collection of The Kirkland at the Denver Art Museum, K2000.0006-1

John E. Thompson and Colorado Modernism

Opens July 19, 2026

John E. Thompson, Colorado Landscape, 1914. Oil paint on panel; 12 x 12 in. The Collection of The Kirkland at the Denver Art Museum, K2000.0006-1

With the support of local collectors and The Kirkland, John E. Thompson and Colorado Modernism celebrates Thompson’s work and career alongside those of his friends and students during the first half of the 1900s. The artists and patrons featured in this exhibition changed the course of artistic production and connoisseurship in Colorado.

Artist and educator John E. Thompson (1882–1945) was born in Buffalo, New York, and moved to Denver in 1918 after spending 12 years in Europe. He is best remembered for having introduced the expressive colors, simplified shapes, and tilted perspectives of European modernism to the Rocky Mountain West. Thompson impacted generations of artists through classes at the Chappell School of Art, the Denver Academy of Fine and Applied Arts, and the University of Denver. He had longstanding ties to the Denver Art Museum: He participated in almost every annual exhibition from 1919 to 1945 and was a member of the museum’s Board of Trustees. The museum hosted his memorial exhibition in 1945.

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Martin Building, Level 7
Included in general admission
Talk rock formation on the left and tall tree on the right

John E. Thompson, Organization of Rocks and Trees, about 1919. Oil paint on canvas; 26 3/4 x 24 3/4 in. Collection of Deborah and Warren Wadsworth.

Abstract painting of a mountain range landscape in New Mexico

Andrew Dasburg, Eagles Nest New Mexico, date not known. Oil paint on board; 12 15/16 x 16 3/16 in. Denver Art Museum: The William Sr. and Dorothy Harmsen Collection, 2001.1145 © Estate of Andrew Dasburg

Bright orange rocks in a forest clearing and a bright blue sky

Jozef G. Bakos, Rocks in the Clearing, 1918-19. Oil on canvas; 20 × 16 in. Denver Art Museum: Funds from the William Sr. and Dorothy Harmsen Collection, by exchange, 2011.277. © Estate of Jozef G. Bakos

Abstract painting of house at the foot of a mountain range

Willard Nash, Landscape #2, date not known. Oil paint on canvas; 18 × 20 in. William Sr. and Dorothy Harmsen Collection at the Denver Art Museum, 2001.1187

Abstract painting of a dark, cavernous cave in New Mexico

Walter Mruk, The Ghosts of Carlsbad Caverns, 1924–1925, Oil paint on canvas; 26 ¾ × 30 ¾ × 2 in. (framed). William Sr. and Dorothy Harmsen Collection at the Denver Art Museum, 2001.1200

Group of men sitting at tables eating bread and soup

John E. Thompson, Soup Kitchen, 1936. Oil paint on canvas; 27 ¼ × 31 in. Denver Art Museum: Volunteer Benefit Events Fund, 1978.9

Colorful mountain vista with white puffs of smoke rising to the clouds

Raymond Jonson, Cloud Forms & Mesas No.1, 1926. Oil paint on canvas; 27 ¾ × 39 ¾ in. Lucile and Donald Graham Collection of the Denver Art Museum, 2003.908.

Forest landscape of lush green trees

John E. Thompson, Woods Interior, 1920. Oil paint on canvas; 15 1/8 x 18 1/4 in. The Collection of The Kirkland at the Denver Art Museum, K2021.72.007

Landscape view of a Colorado city on the hillside

Elisabeth Spalding, Central City of July 1922, 1938. Oil paint on board; 30 x 34 in. The Collection of The Kirkland at the Denver Art Museum, K2008.0449

Portrait of a woman wearing a red shawl with a small fluffy dog in her lap

B. J. O. Nordfeldt, Portrait of Marion G. Hendrie, 1936. Oil paint on canvas; 43 × 37 in. Denver Art Museum: Gift of the Marion G. Hendrie Collection, 1968.39

Autumnal forest landscape with a figure in motion in the center of the frame

John E. Thompson, Colorado Landscape, 1914. Oil paint on panel; 12 x 12 in. The Collection of The Kirkland at the Denver Art Museum, K2000.0006-1