The Mother Road at 100: Route 66 and the Art of the American Road Trip
|
Time to read 4 min
In 2026, one of America's most beloved icons turns 100. Route 66 was established on November 11, 1926, a ribbon of highway stitching together eight states from Chicago to Santa Monica, and for a century it has stood for something larger than asphalt: the freedom of the open road, the pull of the horizon, the great American road trip. This year, towns all along the route are throwing the Mother Road a yearlong birthday party, with the national celebrations officially opening in the spring and building through November.
At Sorrel Sky, the centennial feels close to home because Santa Fe was there at the beginning.
Santa Fe and the Original Mother Road
When Route 66 first opened in 1926, it did not run straight through New Mexico the way most people picture it today. The original alignment took a long, looping climb north from Santa Rosa and ran directly into Santa Fe, where it met the Old Pecos Trail and the Old Santa Fe Trail and led travelers all the way to the historic Plaza. For a state capital built on centuries of trail and trade, it was a fitting path. In 1937, the highway was straightened and rerouted west through Albuquerque, bypassing the Santa Fe loop, but for those first eleven years, the Mother Road delivered its travelers right to our doorstep. Our gallery on Palace Avenue sits just a block from where Route 66 once led, which makes this anniversary one we are especially glad to mark.
Route 66 Centennial Events in and around Santa Fe
New Mexico is celebrating the Mother Road all year, and several events bring the party to Santa Fe. A few to put on your calendar, with the reminder that details can shift, so confirm before you go:
Route 66 Centennial Festival at the Santa Fe Railyard, scheduled for the weekend of October 3 and 4, 2026, with classic cars, live music, local food, and community spirit
A Route 66 Centennial traveling exhibit is scheduled to make a Santa Fe stop in late August 2026, celebrating the stories and culture of the highway
A screening of the Route 66 documentary at the Lensic Performing Arts Center, scheduled for early October 2026
Beyond Santa Fe, the celebrations stretch the length of New Mexico's stretch of the route, from Tucumcari and Santa Rosa to the Nob Hill district of Albuquerque and on to Gallup, the gateway to the Navajo Nation and Zuni Pueblo. It is a fine year for a road trip of your own.
The Open Road, on the Wall
The romance of Route 66 has always been a visual one: the long vanishing point, the chrome and neon, the desert light. It is no surprise that the open road runs straight through the work of several of our artists. Here are three who capture the spirit of the journey in very different ways.
David Yarrow: The Road Goes On Forever
No one alive photographs the mythology of the American West quite like David Yarrow, the Scottish-born photographer who is among the best-selling in the world. For his Wild West anthology, he spent months on location across the Southwest, and the results read like scenes from a Western committed to film. His image, The Road Goes On Forever, shot in Monument Valley, distills the entire idea of the road trip into a single frame. Yarrow has called Monument Valley the very essence of the Southwest and the beating heart of the Wild West, a landscape of such timeless grandeur that it puts a human life in perspective. Printed at scale in editions of twelve, it is less a photograph of a place than a portrait of the urge to drive toward it. (Price on request.) His broader Wild West series, including images made on the Durango and Silverton railroad right here in our backyard, extends that same cinematic storytelling. You can explore the full collection on our David Yarrow page.
Chuck Middlekauff: The Wild and Wacky West
If Yarrow gives us the road's grandeur, Chuck Middlekauff gives us its sense of humor. His large acrylic on canvas, The Wild and Wacky West Road Trip,revels in the kitsch and color that make a Western road trip so much fun, the roadside oddities and big-sky exuberance that any traveler on Route 66 will recognize. It is a painting that does not take itself too seriously, and it is all the more joyful for it. At six feet wide, it commands a wall the way the open road commands a windshield.
Nick Veasey: Under the Hood
Then there is Nick Veasey, the British artist recognized as the world's leading X-ray photographer, who shows us the road trip from the inside out. Working almost entirely with radiographic imaging from his studio in Kent, Veasey turns vintage vehicles into ghostly, intricate portraits of their own engineering. His VW Camper On the Road (limited edition Chromaluxe print, up to 90.5 by 47 inches, $26,850) is the ultimate road-trip icon rendered transparent, every spring and seat frame and engine part laid bare. It is the perfect centennial conversation piece, a celebration of the machines that made the Mother Road possible. Veasey's vintage car series also includes a Corvette, a 1972 Porsche 911 Targa, a CJ7 Jeep, and a Ferrari F40, each one a fusion of art and engineering. See more on our Nick Veasey page.
A Century of the Open Road
Route 66 was never really about getting somewhere quickly. It was about the going itself, the diners and the desert, and the sense that the next horizon might hold something wonderful. That is the same thing these artists chase, each in their own key, and it is the same thing that has drawn travelers to Santa Fe for far longer than a hundred years. As the Mother Road celebrates its centennial, we would love to help you find a piece of the open road to take home.
Visit us in Santa Fe, just off the Plaza, or at any of our four locations.
Santa Fe, New Mexico 125 W Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM 87501 (505) 501-6555 Open daily 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM, Sundays 10 AM to 5 PM
Prices and availability are current as of writing and subject to change. Event dates are drawn from public announcements and should be confirmed with organizers before you plan a visit.
