Albert Bierstadt was born in Germany on January 7, 1830, but a year later his family moved to the United States where his life and career would one day flourish. He is best known for his majestic landscapes of the American West, scenes which can sweep one away with the grandeur of creation. He immersed himself in that countryside on several expeditions west so that he could bring his artwork most fully alive.
Bierstadt studied in Europe for a time, practicing for example on the glorious Swiss countryside and exhibiting his work. His landscape paintings gained him such renown that when a group of explorers planned to go west, he was asked to accompany them to paint the American West. His paintings of the Rocky Mountains bring forth the power and wild beauty of the scenery. Notice in particular the way he paints clouds descending upon the mountaintops, the gentle mist which shrouds the more distant scenery and the light which rests on the uppermost places of glory.
Below are shown more examples of his work.
