Artist Medora Manca (1856-1921) is best known in North Dakota as the namesake of an 1883 boom town founded by her French husband. In New York, she was a wealthy young heiress to a family banking empire.
From 1883 to 1886, she typically spent May through November in her Wild West town of Medora. She and her husband, the Marquis de Morés, came to start a cattle empire, hunt big game, and entertain friends. While here, the accomplished artist painted beautiful watercolors of the area’s Badlands.
View 26 of Medora’s watercolors and sketches from the state’s museum collection while exploring her Dakota Territory story, brimming with sophistication and scandal.
This free exhibit is open in the Governors Gallery through March 2026.