La Salle Taking Possession of the Land at the Mouth of the Arkansas. March 10, 1682

Executed in 1847, this history painting utilizes oil paint applied to a canvas support. The work measures 37.8 cm in height and 56.4 cm in width. Visually, the composition incorporates specific natural and man-made elements, notably depicting a boat and trees within the scene. These formal choices serve the narrative of the historical event portrayed.

The painting was executed in 1847 by George Catlin as an oil on canvas work measuring 37.8 cm by 56.4 cm. Catlin painted the scene to document the French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle’s claim of the Arkansas River valley in 1682.

After Catlin’s death the canvas passed by descent to his daughters Clara Gregory Catlin, Louise Catlin Kinney and Elizabeth Wing Catlin. In 1912 Elizabeth Wing Catlin sold it to the American Museum of Natural History, which later disposed of the work in 1959 through Kennedy Galleries to Paul Mellon, who gifted it to the National Gallery of Art in 1965.

The painting is currently held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it entered the collection in 1965 as a gift from Paul Mellon; its accession number is not specified in the available records. It was created by George Catlin in 1847, passed through the artist's daughters, sold in 1959 via Kennedy Galleries to Paul Mellon, and donated to the museum in 1965. The sources do not include a documented exhibition history.

George Catlin's 1848 oil painting, La Salle Taking Possession of the Land at the Mouth of the Arkansas, depicts a pivotal moment in North American colonial history. This work, rendered in oil on canvas, reflects Catlin's broader interest in historical narratives and the interactions between European explorers and Indigenous peoples. While known for his direct observations of Native American life, this particular piece reconstructs an event from over a century and a half prior.

George Catlin, originally a lawyer, became a painter dedicated to documenting Indigenous cultures of the American West. His extensive travels in the 1830s profoundly influenced his art, leading to numerous portraits and landscapes of Native communities. La Salle Taking Possession stands apart from his direct observational works, as it was created years later, drawing upon historical accounts and his own understanding of the frontier rather than firsthand experience of the specific event.