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Some artists paint. Others build. Ted DeGrazia did both.
Tucked into the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains, the Gallery in the Sun is more than a museum. It’s a ten-acre, hand-built collection of adobe structures, desert landscapes, and thousands of works that tell the story of the Southwest in color and movement.
Unlike most galleries, this one wasn’t designed by a committee or shaped to fit the expectations of collectors. DeGrazia built it himself, letting the desert decide the rest.
Even now, it feels like a living thing. Walls hold on to the sun. Creosote hangs in the air. Inside, the rooms are filled with the kind of art that doesn’t just sit there. It pushes forward, restless and alive.
Inside, over 15,000 of DeGrazia’s paintings, sculptures, and ceramics fill the space. His work is unmistakably tied to the Southwest, capturing its landscapes, cultures, and history with a style that never asks for permission.
DeGrazia never cared much for permission. In 1976, when the IRS decided his work was valuable enough to be taxed as luxury goods, he burned over 100 of his paintings in the Superstition Mountains as a form of protest.
He had spent years painting the land and its people. He wasn’t interested in making it a commodity.
Who Was Ted DeGrazia?
Ted DeGrazia grew up in Morenci, Arizona, a mining town where kids didn’t dream about becoming artists. They worked in copper mines because that’s what put food on the table.
His parents were Italian immigrants. His childhood was a mix of hard labor, economic instability, and exposure to Mexican and Native American cultures.
When the mines shut down in 1920, his family packed up and went back to Italy. That move didn’t last long. With Mussolini on the rise, they returned to Arizona in 1925.
Ted wanted something different. He didn’t want to follow his father into the mines. In 1933, he hitched a ride to Tucson with fifteen dollars in his pocket and enrolled at the University of Arizona.
He paid his way by playing in a band and planting trees around campus. College took him thirteen years to finish, but he eventually walked away with two master’s degrees. One in music, and one in art.
Famed muralist Diego Rivera (left) in Mexico City with Ted DeGrazia (right) in 1942. • Photo by user Sonoflightning, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Ted DeGrazia outside his first studio at Prince Road and Campbell Avenue with his second wife, Marion, in 1947. Marion was also an artist, but preferred to remain outside the spotlight. Marion ran Ted’s gallery while he traveled through Arizona, California, and Mexico seeking inspiration for his work. Marion sold the first studio after Ted’s death in 1982, and today it’s (sadly) a Chevron gas station. • Photo by user Sonoflightning, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The Art, the Fame, and the Myths
DeGrazia was a painter who knew how to get attention. He played the part of the eccentric artist because he understood that people loved a spectacle.
He wore paint-stained clothes. He let outlandish rumors circulate about himself. He once said, “I want to be notorious rather than famous. Fame has too much responsibility. People forget you are human.”
And he painted. A lot.
His second wife, Marion, estimated that he produced:
- 1,600 oil paintings.
- 3,500 watercolors.
- 2,500 original prints.
- 500 ceramics.
- 250 pieces of bronze, enamel, and jewelry.
He didn’t just create art. He lived it.
His paintings captured the people, traditions, and landscapes of the Southwest. They were bright. Emotional. Instantly recognizable. Collectors couldn’t get enough. Critics, however, dismissed them as kitsch.
So, naturally, DeGrazia set a million dollars’ worth of his own paintings on fire.
The Fire and the Protest
In 1976, inheritance tax laws meant that the DeGrazia family might not be able to afford to keep Ted’s artwork after he died. That didn’t sit well with Ted, and he decided if the government was going to make it impossible for his heirs to inherit his works, he’d reduce them to ashes himself.
So, he loaded up some of his paintings, rode into the Superstition Mountains on horseback, built a bonfire, and burned them in protest.
Some believe he hid paintings in the mountains, promising that if anyone found one, they could keep it.
The tax laws never changed, but the legend of DeGrazia only grew.
The Gallery in the Sun
By the 1950s, Tucson was expanding. DeGrazia didn’t want to be surrounded by city life, so he went looking for land where he could build his kind of space.
He found it.
A ten-acre stretch of raw desert along North Swan Road. Over the next twenty years, he built everything with his own hands and help from friends. The gallery. The mission. His home. Every wall was made from adobe bricks crafted on-site.
The result was a place that felt like the desert itself. Unlike the manicured estates that later sprang up around it, DeGrazia’s buildings looked like they had grown straight from the earth.
The gallery includes:
- The Gallery in the Sun: His main exhibition space, featuring thousands of his works.
- The Mission in the Sun: Dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe. The original murals were destroyed in a 2017 fire and are currently being restored.
- His residence and studio: You can still see his paint-splattered easel, frozen in time.
Even the floor is art. DeGrazia cut cholla cactus skeletons into chunks, embedded them in concrete, and sealed them with wax.
What Happened After DeGrazia?
Ted DeGrazia passed away in 1982. After his death, developers offered millions to buy the land. His wife, Marion, refused.
She knew what this place meant.
“I build my homes and galleries from dirt. Someday they will turn back into dirt, just like you and I will. So you build what looks like a dead ship on those lovely hills, and I shall hide here in my dirt buildings. History will say who respected nature.” — Ted DeGrazia
Today, Ted and Marion remain on the property. Ted’s grave sits between the gallery and mission. Marion’s is at the base of a tree nearby.
What to Expect When You Visit
Most galleries feel like institutions. This one feels like it belongs to the land.
The entrance looks like a mine shaft, a nod to DeGrazia’s childhood in the copper camps. The walls are thick adobe, shaped using the same techniques as the Spanish missions. Inside, more than 15,000 paintings, ceramics, and sculptures fill the space.
DeGrazia’s work is sharp, fast, full of movement. His brushstrokes cut across the canvas. His figures lean and stretch. His landscapes hold the weight of the desert sun.
His Los Niños series, which depicts faceless Indigenous children, is one of his most well-known collections, but every room offers something different.
More Than Just a Gallery
The gallery is only part of what DeGrazia built. Keep walking, and the property unfolds into something larger.
The Mission in the Sun
A small adobe chapel sits just beyond the gallery. DeGrazia built it himself, dedicating it to Our Lady of Guadalupe. There are no pews. No stained glass.
The ceiling is open to the sky, and the walls are covered in his murals. A fire damaged part of the mission in 2017, but even after its restoration, it still feels untouched. The kind of place that doesn’t need to be perfect to feel whole.
DeGrazia’s Home and Studio
His home and studio are still here. Step inside, and it doesn’t feel like a museum. It feels like he just left. His easel stands in the corner. His paintbrushes sit where he last put them down. The rooms are quiet but not empty.
The Gallery Grounds
Outside, mesquite and creosote line the pathways. Metal gates designed by DeGrazia cast shadows across the ground. Sculptures sit in half-hidden corners. Some parts of the property feel almost forgotten, but nothing about it feels abandoned.
Plan Your Visit
If you ever find yourself in Tucson, go here. It’s not just a museum. It’s a piece of living history.
- Where: 6300 North Swan Road, Tucson, Arizona.
- When: Open daily, 10 AM to 4 PM, except major holidays.
- Cost: $8 for adults, $5 for ages 13–18, free for children 12 and under.
The property hosts events all year, including La Fiesta de Guadalupe on December 11. DeGrazia’s son, Domingo, sometimes plays guitar at these festivals.
The gallery also keeps Ted’s vision alive by featuring work from contemporary artists in Ted’s Little Gallery.
Why This Place Stays With You
Before he died, someone asked DeGrazia what he wanted for the future of his gallery. His answer?
“I want the gallery to be full of visitors. I want children dancing, music, drums, singing, celebrations there. I want the gallery to be a living museum, not a damn dead building, a tomb like the mines, but a place alive with color, people, events. I want to reach out to the world, hold all nations inside the circle of Los Niños. I want history told about my paintings, about art, about me.”
Even now, decades after his death, the gallery still feels like DeGrazia. It’s messy. Vibrant. Unapologetically unique.
It doesn’t feel like a museum. It feels like a place still waiting for its owner to walk through the door, paintbrush in hand.
1976 DeGrazia documentary they play in a room at the Gallery of the Sun Museum. I enjoyed it because it shows Ted walking around his gallery and explaining how he built it and why he made some of his design choices. • Video by Arizona Public Media
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