Theodore Van Soelen

Theodore Van Soelen (1890–1964) was a New Mexico-based artist best known for his Western landscapes and portraits.

Van Soelen was born in 1890 in St. Paul, Minnesota. He studied at the St. Paul Art Institute from 1909 to 1911 and then at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. From that school he won a "Cresson Traveling Scholarship" for study in Europe in 1913 and 1914. After his return a doctor recommended him to move west after a serious case of tuberculosis and pneumonia in 1916. He first settled in Albuquerque, New Mexico before moving to Santa Fe in 1922, and, finally, Tesuque in 1926. He died in Santa Fe in 1964.

Van Soelen was elected as a member to the National Academy of the US and had his works exhibited in the East museums the likes of the National Academy and the Chicago Art Institute. His works were exhibited at the Carnegie Institute, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Art, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art.