On my about me page, I detail the very specific extra large canvas painting that set me in motion when it came to my own life in large original art: A Storm in the Rocky Mountains, Mt. Rosalie.
“My mother would take me to the Brooklyn Museum of Art and it is there where I first was exposed to the painting Storm in the Rocky Mountains by Albert Bierstadt. I was amazed at the scale and detail of this piece of large original art and wondered how the artist was able to create such a magnificent piece. I would revisit this extra large painting again and again, and it would never cease to enthrall me. It inspired me to seek artistic instruction and explore all facets of the art world.”
All these years later, the painting still impresses beyond belief, and I heartily encourage you to visit it at the Brooklyn Museum where it still resides. Let me tell you a little about it.
The Artist
Albert Bierstadt was born in Germany but brought to the United States at the age of one. He lived in New York and studied painting with other landscape artists that took the romanticism movement to a new level. They would often incorporate stark contrasts in the glowing light that seems to emanate from the landscape; this is called luminism. He is known as the most important painter of the American West from 1863 through the end of the 19th century when he died in 1902
The Surveying Expeditions
As America continued its westward expansion, Bierstadt was invited to go along to help document the landscapes. The paintings were in part used as a means of convincing the rest of America that moving into this territory was a good idea.
While we often credit Ansel Adams with bringing the wonder of the West to the American public, most of America could get in a vehicle and drive to the locations he put on film. But in the time of Albert Bierstadt, the American West and, specifically the Rocky Mountains, were far out of the reach of the average traveler. Artists like Bierstadt and a few other painters could bring the beauty of the West to people of the East. Extra large paintings were the way to both impress the public and to get as many people view it as possible. He was so influential in giving Americans a positive view of the West that they named Bierstadt Lake, one of the most popular lakes in Rocky Mountain National Park, after him.
While at first you might imagine Bierstadt lugging huge canvases and gallons of paint thousands of miles across the country, the process was actually much simpler. Bierstadt would make sketches of the scenes in question, then return to his studio in New York and create the actual work that would be seen by the public. No doubt the months (or even years) between the viewing of the actual landscape and the painting of it helped to create the idealized versions of nature found in his works.
The Painting Itself
The extra large painting is approximately 6-feet tall by 12-feet wide and is oil on canvas. Inspiration came from an 1863 expedition that Bierstadt was on, but the painting wasn’t completed until 1866. The extra large canvas art traveled the country for a year to various exhibitions and museums before returning to the Brooklyn Museum for permanent display.
The Majesty
Yes, A Storm in the Rocky Mountains, Mt. Rosalie is large, but even when viewed on a relatively small computer monitor it still evokes an amazing majesty. While it is best viewed in person, the artist’s talent creates a feeling of awe that transcends the viewing medium.
It is difficult to put into words everything that is going on in A Storm in the Rocky Mountains, Mt. Rosalie. Perhaps the first aspect that most viewers will notice is the stark difference between the bright sunlight and the black thunderclouds, a hallmark of luminism. The light highlights some of the nearby mountains and plays on the surface of the lake. But the darkness from the clouds leaves the lake half black, mirroring the stark contrasts above.
The clouds cover most of the rising mountains, which at first might seem like an odd choice in what is essentially a mountain scene. But further inspection shows a nearly pure-white peak breaking through at the top, almost a cloud itself despite its jaggedness. Most believe this to be Mt. Rosalie.
No fewer than three sources of water feed the lake, one dropping from such a height as to be blown by the approaching storm. At the same time, an eagle or hawk fights through the high winds.
But there is action as well! Dwarfed by the majesty of the mountains and water features are the Native Americans in the foreground that could go unnoticed at first viewing. There are two horses and three Native Americans hunting deer, accompanied by what appears to be a small black dog. And this isn’t their first hunt of the day, as there is a small encampment nearby with a dear already dead. It’s interesting that Bierstadt chose to include people at all, but it seems that he was interested in bringing the entirety of the Old West into one oil painting.
In Closing
Is the painting a perfect representation of what Bierstadt actually saw? No. Like he did in many paintings, Bierstadt exaggerated the respective sizes of the mountains in order to make them more majestic than they might appear in real life. (Today, photographers can do the same thing by using a telephoto lens to compress the image, bringing items that seem further away closer to the scene.) Mt. Rosalie doesn’t actually have such a distinctive point, and the three sources of water feeding the lake are probably exaggerated. Did he actually see Native Americans hunting deer at this altitude and in such an idyllic scene? It’s unlikely. But despite the romantic notions, it still makes for one of the most amazing and awe-inspiring paintings of the American West ever created.
I was so inspired by this amazing painting that I now work as an artist in large contemporary wall art. If you’re interested in extra large canvas art, whether topographical art you see on my website or you’d like to commission a piece of art from me, please contact me and we’ll talk!
