The Parley 1903

Frederic Remington captured this encounter, The Parley, with oils on canvas. I’m imagining him out on location with his brushes and easel, trying to nail that sun-baked palette. I mean, look at that dry, sandy landscape! It's all warm yellows and tans, with just a touch of blue in the sky. It’s like he's trying to capture the heat radiating off the land itself. I wonder if he ever felt like he was imposing, painting these figures in their own space? He was trying to tell their story, but from his own perspective, of course. That gesture of greeting between the two figures—it's so open and vulnerable. And the shadows cast by the horses, they stretch out like the future is uncertain, but full of possibility. What are they negotiating? What is at stake? It's a conversation that’s been had across time, where power dynamics shift. Painters are always in conversation, echoing and answering each other across history. Remington’s painting leaves us space to think, feel, and question. It reminds us that art is always a process, a way of seeing and knowing.