The Painting

Title: Wagon in the Field (untitled, attributed)
Artist: Marie Roberts (Washoe County, Nevada)
Date: Mid-20th century (c. 1960s–1970s)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Signature: Lower right, “Marie Roberts”
Frame: Period wood frame with linen liner and metallic inner edge

About the Artist

Marie Roberts was a regional painter from Washoe County, Nevada, active in the mid-20th century. Known for her Western and rural subject matter, Roberts captured the ranching, agricultural, and high desert landscapes of northern Nevada. Her works reflect the heritage and identity of the region, often portraying weathered equipment, pastoral fields, and the surrounding Sierra Nevada ranges.

As a Nevada artist, her contributions fall into the broader tradition of Western Americana painting, valued both as art and as a record of local history.

About the Artwork

This oil painting depicts a weathered wooden wagon set against golden fields, with the Sierra Nevada mountains rising in the distance. The warm palette of ochre, russet, and blue creates a timeless sense of place — one rooted in the rural and ranching culture of Nevada.

The subject matter — an abandoned wagon — echoes themes of heritage, endurance, and the fading frontier, making the work both a visual record and a nostalgic reflection of Nevada’s agricultural past.