Rancho de Taos (Mission San Francisco de Asis)

Taos, New Mexico, provided a different landscape and color palette than Alten had seen in his other travels. The architecture of the American southwest shows Mexican and Native American influences, specifically the Pueblo tribe who utilized adobe to create houses. Adobe refers to the dried mud brick made out of clay and straw, which has a bright orange color from the terrain of the southwest. Alten contrasts this with a bright blue sky and the white door on the building’s face.