See How They Run

Rolling hills in warm browns and dusty greens fill this wide New Mexico scene, softening into hazy blue mountains far in the distance. A cluster of adobe buildings nestles in the valley below, ringed by trees and open fields. The light feels dry and golden, capturing the kind of peaceful afternoon you would find in the high desert near Santa Fe, where John Sloan spent his summers beginning in 1919.

The painting takes its name from a small burst of energy at the bottom of the canvas. Three dark dogs race across the foreground, legs stretched out mid-run, chasing one another in what looks like pure fun. Sloan made his name with the Ashcan School, a circle of American painters who captured the rough, everyday side of New York City. Out here he swapped the busy streets for wide open country, and the loose, quick brushstrokes suggest just how much he relished the switch. It is a simple, cheerful look at a place he came to love.