Sand Dunes, Carson Desert, Nevada

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

This noontime scene conveys a desolate place discovered by a lonely explorer. The artist chose a vantage point and framing that blocked the horizon and showed a single wagon—the former Civil War ambulance that he converted into a portable darkroom—and only two sets of footprints. However, over the previous 25 years, more than 165,000 people had passed near here on their way to California. O’Sullivan took this while on a government expedition analyzing the future path of the transcontinental railroad.