Albert Bierstadt first rose to artistic fame with his immense paintings of the soaring mountains and broad valleys of the American West.
In the 1860s, Bierstadt began a series of large panoramic canvases inspired by his early travels through the western United States. He conveyed the epic scale of the West by combining precise depictions of the land with backdrops of exaggerated peaks and glowing bursts of sunlight. Crowds lined up to see his work. Bierstadt’s romantic landscapes continue to define his artistic legacy today.
