1899-1988

Wieghorst was a Danish-American painter who spent his childhood as an acrobatic performer and horseback rider. This love of horses continued through his life as he: moved to the United States and joined the Cavalry along the Texas-Mexico border; worked as a cowboy throughout the American West; and was a mounted policeman in New York.

His largest output of work came when he settled in El Cajon, California in 1944 and began to paint local landscapes, cowboys, horses, and Native Americans. He focused on depicting horses and their unique individual personalities by visiting ranches and spending time with the animals. Later in his career, he painted the horses of celebrities including Roy Rogers’s, Gene Autry’s, and Tom Morgan’s.