A World of Art

I was reading Chapter 1 last weekend as my husband was driving our family home from a visit with relatives in Reno. Right as I was getting to the section about this painting, (Albert Bierstadt's: The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak,) we came over a hill and I saw sunlight move across the page and it looked like the sun peaking between parting clouds in this image. It was really an awesome way to see this particular painting for the first time.
Bierstadt painted on a large scale. This canvas was actually six feet high and ten feet wide. Looking at the painting as a whole, I saw it in all of its idealism, as a fantastic, utopian vision of the old west. The frontier was viewed with a sense of grandure and wonder which, to me, is really epitomized in this painting. I imagine the artist's vantagepoint could be from beneath an enormous old oak at the far end of the valley where this painting takes place. The crystal blue sky seems absolutely endless, going beyond the borders of the painting and leaving the viewer wondering what else there is to see in this world. We see the artist's vision of the Rockies stretching above the hills and trees that guard this valley. The colors are natural, earthy tones of green, gold and brown. A waterfall lies at the center of the painting, a beautiful landmark, glowing in the sunlight and feeding into a smooth, reflective lake which supports the tribe of Native Americans that live amongst the trees and along the water's edge. There is a large gathering, perhaps a family sharing time together, at the bottom, right-hand corner of the painting. This adds the human element to the painting, giving hope to the observer that it is possible to turn this untamed land into home without losing the beauty.
Seeing this painting today, I think of all the romanticism of the western frontier and everything it offered to our grandmothers and grandfathers. I'm reminded of my own great, great, great grandfather who was a miner in the California Gold Rush in 1849. He traveled the Oregon trail, exploring the west, and probably saw many parts of America that are portrayed in this painting.
I feel a lot of emotions when I see this painting. I think that, more than anything, I really want to go wandering through the national forests of America, to see if I can find a place as perfect as this. I love the hope that this painting expresses. I think that, especially with today's issues with pollution, deforestation, and overpopulation, a painting like this can really prove that there used to be a healthy, clean, lush Earth, and that we can find it again. This painting is one that reaches across generations. It was created almost 150 years ago, yet it can touch people in their hearts and make them want to explore what wild, unspoiled territory we've got left in the world. This is the mark of an artist who can truly stand the test of time.