The Sierra

This painting was painted by Albert Bierstadt, and the name of it is called The Sierra. He was portraying the beautiful view of a river in the mid west. I think this painting is gorgeous. When I look at it, I see so many different beautiful things about it. It was painted in 1868. Albert was a German-American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. In obtaining the subject matter for these works, Bierstadt joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion. Though not the first artist to record these sites, Bierstadt was the foremost painter of these scenes for the remainder of the 19th century.


This picture is very colorful. it uses cool colors and is very foggy. Every little thing catches my eye; whether it be the animals down below, or the waterfalls going into the river. This is very interesting and beautiful. There is a lot of green and trees. The water shows the reflection of the mountains and the waterfall. You really have to look closely to notice this. The texture seems very rough. The mountains are very bumpy and rough. Then it goes down to the water which is smooth. 


The rhythm of this painting is up and down and all over the place. But, when you first look at this painting, the focus is on the middle right away. I first looked up at the mountain then moved down to the small waterfall in the distance. Then, I moved down to the shiny lake. As I looked at the lake, i saw the reflection of the mountain in the body of water. The animals were seen because I was really focusing on ever part of this picture.