Dreams and Visions: The American West and the Legacy of Imagination

February 25, 2012 – March 3, 2013

Dreams and Visions explores the artists' views of the land, the myths and the realities that make up the American story of western expansion.

Since the first Europeans arrived on the Atlantic coast, immigrants followed dreams and were lured by visions of new and better lives on the American continent. From the European standpoint, rich lands and abundant natural resources provided unimaginable possibilities that were available for the taking.

Even today, the works of artists of the last three centuries color our perceptions of the past, weaving together the high hopes of the dreamers, the images of the visionaries and the reality of the American landscape and the people who already were living here before European contact.