Forrest Moses

Forrest Moses (1934–2016) was an abstract painter who made Santa Fe his home for over four decades and became one of the defining figures of its contemporary art scene. Working in large-scale oil on canvas, Moses developed a distinctive approach to abstraction grounded in the sensory experience of the New Mexico landscape — not as representation but as emotional and atmospheric encounter. His paintings shift between dense, luminous fields of color and gestural passages of light and dark, creating works of quiet intensity that reward sustained attention. He was a central presence in the Santa Fe contemporary art community, showing consistently with leading galleries and influencing a generation of painters who came to work in the city. His work is held in the collections of the Harwood Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts New Mexico, and major private collections throughout the Southwest.