When Douglas Atwill arrived in Santa Fe in 1969, he was attracted by the opera, art and culture. Having already served in the U.S. Army in Germany, studied in Italy and at the University of Texas, Doug arrived with a painter’s eye, a builder’s intuition, and the curiosity of a lifelong student of beauty. Santa Fe, with its mountain light and adobe rhythms, suited him immediately.

In those early years, Doug supported himself by designing and building homes with his partner, Pete. The work allowed him both the creative freedom and financial flexibility to paint steadily.  Surrounded by Canyon Road’s rising artistic energy, he found representation with respected galleries including Gerald Peters, Meyer Munson, and others. Collectors were drawn to his reduction of the Southwest’s complex shapes into pure pattern, gesture, rhythm, light and mark-making.

...continued reading, as well as press and videos below

Paintings by Genre

Doug's gardens were as much about creating compositions for paintings as they were about his love of the plants themselves. His aesthetics were refined with each garden he designed. Often, compositional discoveries made in his paintings would migrate into his next garden design. Certain elements would become fixtures in his gardens such as horse chestnut trees, brick lined walkways and his favorite flowers including iris, zinnias and poppies. 

Connected to his home by a covered veranda and surrounded by the gardens he tended so lovingly, Doug’s final studio was his sanctuary. Classical music from New Mexico Public Radio drifted across the easel as he worked, surrounded by open French doors that invited in the breeze and piñon scented air. Canvases sometimes rested on their sides or upside down as he was far more interested in balance, design, and compositional rhythm than literal representation. His distinctive “cast-iron clouds,” as one gallery once called them, exemplify his bold, linear, architectural interpretations of the ephemeral.

Stacks of paintings lined the walls and storage shelves in his studio: evidence of a relentless and joyful output. Doug averaged a large painting a week into his nineties, ultimately creating more than 4,500 canvases. His most frequent subjects were his gardens, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, cloudscapes, New Mexico landscapes, bouquets, travel scenes, and gestural abstractions.

Doug’s life outside Santa Fe fueled this creative engine. Each winter, he traveled with close friends to Rome, Tangiers, Morocco, Greece, Hawaii, Barbados, and beyond. Paintings from these trips pulse with tropical saturation, exotic patterning, and a spirit of play. In France, he found inspiration in an ancient goddess figure from Paleolithic cave paintings. 

His storytelling was equally rich. Over his lifetime he published eighteen books, many documenting the paintings he completed that year, accompanied by poems and writings. 

A story he enjoyed telling was about during his Army years in Germany, when he was asked to produce posters for a competition:

“The top prize was 400 dollars and 1st, 2nd and 3rd received three days of leave. I created several designs, and I won them all,” he recalled. The officer ultimately awarded him eighteen days of leave. Doug split them with friends, and the group took the money to Paris.

His writings are gifts of insight, notes on the ironies and satisfactions of creative life, musings on color harmonies, and affectionate observations of a variety of studio visitors. He wrote lyrically about Santa Fe, the effects of changing seasons, and the ritual of simplifying a scene to its essential lines.

Oh Be Joyful Gallery first approached Doug in 2021 while preparing a show to coincide with the Crested Butte Wildflower Festival. I had seen his paintings in Santa Fe fifteen years earlier, and they were the first works that came to mind. When we searched for him online, we found him thriving, still painting sixty canvases a year. Doug welcomed us to his studio and we selected works from two distinct series; his gardens and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

“At the time, I had about 45 paintings in my studio storage that fit either part of that description,” he wrote in At the Easel: Selected Paintings from 2021. “It would be good to get them out of my studio and somewhere people could see them… I felt a slight sense of loss after they left, but my studio was roomier and more open than before.”

That visit was unforgettable. The home he built remains one of the most perfect spaces I have ever experienced. An inspiring space for an artist, surrounded by gardens and full of desert light. I have never witnessed a more content artist at the easel.

In February of 2025, Doug asked Oh Be Joyful Gallery to represent his life’s work and estate. We returned again to his studio, this time to discuss how to honor his legacy. His wish was simple: to help place his remaining paintings into the hands and homes of people who will love them. The paintings we reviewed represented a lifetime of exploration, snapshots of decades of curiosity, discipline, and investigation.

Doug asked that each piece sold after his passing include an estate mark derived from his early signature, a practice inspired by the estates of artists like Monet and O’Keeffe. It is a small symbol of pride, stewardship and authenticity.

Doug also gifted us a bound volume of his last ten years of Facebook posts: charming reflections about tulips, fresh pies, flower arrangements, garden updates, and the stray details of daily life. These small things reveal a man of attention, gratitude, wit, and gentleness.

Surrounded by friends, Doug often broke up his painting days with visitors who brought lunch and conversation. Most days the mornings were spent painting and the afternoon writing. His memory remained sharp, and his stories were numerous. Though his paintings exhibit a modern approach, Doug himself embodied characteristics of an earlier era; gentleness, a warm voice, and a pace of life reminiscent of slower times.

There is still a small tower of his books I have yet to read. What a gift, after he is gone, to still have so much left to learn from his paintings and words.

-Nicholas Reti

Owner - Oh Be Joyful Gallery

Crested Butte, Colorado 

December 1, 2025

DOUGLAS ATWILL - Films

Douglas Atwill - A Creative Life

Douglas Atwill - House #60

A Quintessential Atwill

Uncle Doug

by Jaydin Martinez

DOUGLAS ATWILL - Selected PRESS AND MEDIA

CONTINUE DOUG's STory

SHARE

We welcome you to share a photo of Doug's art in your life 

and what it means to live with his art; 

we will post these reflections to share with his fans, family and friends.

DONATE

If you are interested in helping to preserve Doug's legacy, 

please visit our "Reserve COLLECTION" page to learn how you can help.

CONSIGN

If you are interested in selling artwork by Douglas Atwill, 

please reach out to us. 

It is our honor to continue connecting collectors with his paintings. 

Our partner gallery 

New Concept Gallery in Santa Fe also represents 

the remaining paintings in DOUG's estate.