Original Acrylic Painting “Navajo Rainbow Dance” [SOLD]

Harrison Begay was a master at capturing the beauty and harmony of everyday Navajo life.  Begay painted most of his life, having been trained in the 1930s at the Santa Fe Indian School. He continued throughout his life to paint the unique aspects of Navajo life and is considered one of the most influential Native American painters. In 1951, Begay became a co-founder of Tewa Enterprises in Santa Fe, a silkscreen printing company, because he wished to make his and other Native American art available to more people by making inexpensive prints from their original art.

This painting is an original one by Harrison Begay and was not one which was made into silkscreen prints.  It features a male and female young Navajo couple performing the Rainbow Dance.  It is a dance performed as a courtesy to non-Native people as a way to present the Diné culture to outsiders. It is one of many that is performed by youth groups to honor the rainbow and the protection and blessings that it represents in Diné culture.

Dance in their culture serves a variety of purposes.  It is a way to honor one’s self and the connection to the natural world.  Dance has a healing purpose as well.  Songs and dances are ways of carrying on traditional teachings of the Diné people.

The Rainbow (Naatsiilio) is the path of the Holy People (Yeii) in Diné belief.  In sand paintings, the rainbow Yeii surrounds and protects the inner part of the circle. 

Condition: original condition

Recommended Reading:  American Indian Painting of the Southwest and Plains Areas by Dorothy Dunn, 1968

Provenance: from the collection of a Santa Fe resident.