Watercolor snow covers the banks of the Missouri River. A Crow man, sculpted in bronze, embraces his bride. Oil-painted cowboys stampede through a gap in Nevada’s Castle Mountains, brandishing pistols and whips.
At this year’s Prix de West Invitational Art Sale and Exhibition, hundreds of renderings of Western wildlife, culture and history are on display at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum through mid-July. The museum has hosted the exhibition since 1973.
“This is the top of the heap as far as Western art is concerned,” Marla Cook, Manager of Art Sales Shows at the Museum, said of the Prix de West. “And in my opinion, art in the United States.”
Wedding at Crow Fair, a bronze sculpture by Arizonan artist John Coleman, is the most expensive artwork in the Prix de West exhibition, priced at $220,000.
This year’s Prix de West exhibition features 276 artworks, mostly paintings and sculptures, from 90 artists from across the country. Cook described the museum’s effort to feature a diversity of “Western” art in the exhibition, including traditional subject matter depicted in more innovative, contemporary forms.
The artworks are displayed in a 10,000 square-foot gallery space that typically features an immersive exhibit. Ahead of the exhibition, curators use a scale model of the gallery and small, printed copies of each artwork to plan out where each piece will fit, Cook said.
To create Sandhill Cranes on the Great Migration, Iowan artist Andrew Peters used oil, gold, wood and metal.
Seth Spillman, the museum’s Chief Marketing Officer, said the exhibition challenges common preconceptions about Western art. He pointed to the work of Kim Wiggins, a New Mexican painter who represents familiar Western landscapes in striking, bright colors and a contemporary style.
“The width and breadth of what it means to be Western, I think, is just so well-shown in this show here,” Spillman said. “Because you have very contemporary pieces, you have very traditional, you have sculpture, you have flat art, you have acrylic, you have charcoal. You have so many different mediums. It is really as broad as the American West itself.”
Each year between October and January, artists submit works to be considered for display at the following year’s exhibition, Cook said. Many artists have participated in the show for several years, including 50-year Prix de West veteran painter Walt Gonske, the longest-participating artist in the show.
Tierra Amarilla, an oil painting by Walt Gonske, hangs in the Prix de West exhibition. 2026 marks Gonske’s 50th year participating in the Prix de West.
The museum earns a commission from every sale it makes during the Prix de West, Cook said. Art sale earnings and ticket sales make the event the museum’s largest fundraiser of the year.
“We want the artists to feel like they are truly a part of the heritage of this museum,” Cook said, describing the dinner and award ceremony the museum hosts for artists each year. “Without them, this museum wouldn’t be what it is today.”
This year, the Prix de West sale will take place on June 13. Throughout the sale weekend, members of the public can attend a series of informational seminars and demonstrations hosted by featured artists. Artworks are on display for the public in the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum through July 12.
