Smithsonian American Art Museum
Sunrise in the Sierras
Albert Bierstadt, born Solingen, Germany 1830-died New York City 1902 · ca. 1872
In 1872, Albert Bierstadt traveled deep into Kings River canyon in the South Sierra Nevada with the geologist Clarence King. He created many paintings on this trip, believing that people back East would be fascinated by images of the distant western states. In Sunrise in the Sierras the sunlight bouncing off the tips of the mountains emphasizes the vivid color of the rock against the dark, unfinished foreground. (Anderson and Ferber, Albert Bierstadt: Art and Enterprise, 1990)
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