1859 -1880 · Lander's Peak, expedition and American sublime

The Bierstadt Rockies rise beyond lakes, waterfalls and animals: the massif becomes a national monument, built between field study and workshop amplification.

In 1859, Albert Bierstadt accompanied Frederick W. Lander's expedition westward and carried out studies of the Rocky Mountains. Back in New York, he transformed sketches and memories into large compositions intended for an audience eager for images of Western territories. The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak, completed in 1863, enjoyed considerable success. An indigenous camp occupies the foreground, a lake and a valley lead the eye towards a peak bathed in light. The painting combines apparent precision and spectacular construction. Canadian waterfalls, storms and landscapes then expand the massif to different climates. Goats and mouflons then expand the massif to different climates. the altitude and give scale to the walls. The name Lander also inscribes government exploration in pictorial geography, while indigenous names and territorial histories often disappear. The Rockies of Bierstadt must therefore be read as landscapes, expedition products and instruments of an expansionist imagination. The "Rockies of Albert Bierstadt" selection must therefore be read as landscapes, expedition products and instruments of an expansionist imagination. The "Rockies of Albert Bierstadt" selection notably compares The Rocky Mountains, Lander Peak and Rocky Mountain Waterfall. Its reading favors the material.

The peak of Bierstadt is at the same time a mountain, an expedition souvenir and a political monument: the light makes an already renowned geography natural.