A.R. Mitchell Museum of Western Art in Trinidad, Colorado

See the Old West through nationally-renowned artist A.R. Mitchell.

One of Trinidad’s most famous characters was Arthur Roy Mitchell, a ranch hand, whose colorful paintings and illustrations of cowboy life elevated him to a nationally recognized American artist.

Born in 1889 on his father’s homestead outside Trinidad, Colo., the only thing Mitchell liked more than being a cowboy was painting them. During the 1920s and ‘30s, he painted more than 160 covers for Western pulp magazines. While he was based in New York during those two decades, he spent his summers in the Southwest, capturing the vibrancy of rural life on his canvases.

See the largest collection of Mitchell’s work at the A.R. Mitchell Museum of Western Art, known by locals as “The Mitch.” It’s housed in a former department store built in 1906 that still has its tin ceilings. You’ll also discover antique saddles, old West artifacts, Navajo rugs and American Indian pottery.

Mitchell died in 1977 at the age 87, but not without reflecting on his life, which artfully mixed his two passions: art and cowboy culture.

“You look over the back trail, and you see the fine friends you’ve made, and you see you’ve managed to make a living doing something you really loved, so how could anyone ask for more?” he once said.

For more information:
A.R. Mitchell Museum of Western Art
150 E. Main St., Trinidad, CO
armitchellmuseum.com