Michael Coleman

Michael Coleman paints the wild North the way the nineteenth century dreamed it and the twentieth forgot it: moose knee-deep in amber bogs, teepee villages under winter sun, buffalo strung across golden plains — small pictures, often, with jewel-box depth. Utah born and faithful to the old masters of the wilderness, he has built one of the most recognizable signatures in Western art.

Revere Auctions provides free auction estimates for Coleman’s work: send photographs of the front, back, and signature and our specialists will respond promptly.

Who Was Michael Coleman?

Coleman was born in Provo, Utah in 1946 and grew up hunting, trapping, and sketching in the marshes and mountains around it — boyhood fieldwork that became a painter’s capital. He studied at Brigham Young University, but his real teachers were the wilderness painters of the previous century: Bierstadt’s light, the animal painters’ patience.

He found his medium early: gouache handled with an oil painter’s richness, on board, at intimate scale — then expanded into full oils as his market grew. New York galleries took him up in the 1970s, and the great Western and wildlife exhibitions followed.

He still lives and paints in Provo, travels north for subjects — Alaska, Canada, the Yellowstone country — and remains, decade after decade, one of the steadiest sellers in the Western field.

What Did Coleman Paint?

The signature Colemans are northern wildlife subjects — moose, elk, bear, buffalo — in bog, timber, and plains settings, plus the Plains Indian camp scenes under low sun that collectors particularly chase. He works in gouache and in oil, from cabinet-sized panels to large canvases.

The handling is the signature: enamel-deep color, precise animals, atmospheric distance — pictures built to be lived with.

How Much Is My Michael Coleman Painting Worth?

Several things determine what a work by Michael Coleman brings at auction:

• Medium — oils lead; his celebrated gouaches trade strongly but below comparable oils
• Subject — camp scenes and classic moose-and-bog subjects lead the market
• Size — larger oils command clear premiums over the many cabinet pictures
• Condition — gouache on board must be unfaded and unscuffed
• Provenance — long gallery history — his dealers are well documented — reassures bidders

The honest answer is that no two are alike, and the difference between an ordinary example and an exceptional one is a conversation with a specialist, not a chart. Send us photographs through our free auction estimate form — front, back, signature, and any labels — and we will tell you what you have.

The Market for Coleman

Coleman trades constantly at auction — typical works in the four figures, strong oils and camp subjects reaching five figures in recent years. Few living Western painters are as liquid, which reflects both output and steady collector affection.

Medium and size sort his results sharply, so a specialist estimate on your specific picture is the honest first step.

How to Sell a Work by Coleman

The strongest results for a Michael Coleman painting come at auction, where national and international collectors bid against each other. Revere Auctions offers free, no-obligation auction estimates: send photos and dimensions and our specialists respond with a current market valuation and a recommendation on how to sell. Consigned works are professionally photographed, cataloged, and marketed through our fine art auctions to a worldwide bidder base, and we regularly arrange shipping for consignors across the country. If you need a formal written valuation for insurance or estate purposes, our appraisal and valuation services team can help; you can also read more about how selling at auction works.

Related: American & Western paintings, our fine art department, appraisal services, free auction estimates.

Reviewed by the fine art specialists at Revere Auctions, St. Paul, Minnesota.

Michael Coleman: Frequently Asked Questions

How much is a Michael Coleman painting worth?

Typical works bring four figures at auction and strong oils and camp scenes five figures. Medium and size drive the range. Revere Auctions provides free auction estimates from photographs.

What does Michael Coleman paint?

The northern wild — moose, buffalo, bear, and Plains Indian camps in golden and winter light — in gouache and oil from his base in Provo, Utah, where he was born in 1946.

Is my Coleman a gouache or an oil?

His gouaches on board are often mistaken for oils. The support and surface tell the story — send photographs and our specialists will confirm the medium free of charge.

Where can I sell a Michael Coleman painting?

At auction with a house that reaches Western and wildlife collectors. Revere Auctions offers free estimates and formal appraisals.

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