Mt. Rosalie: A Storm In The Rocky Mountain

A Storm in the Rocky Mountains, Mt. Rosalie is an oil on canvas painting currently located at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City as part of the museum’s collection of American paintings. Albert Bierstadt created this panoramic painting in 1866 in New York and its accession number at the museum is 76.79. Just as the title indicates, the painting’s subject is a storm in the Rocky Mountains, specifically at lake valley by Mt. Rosalie. Additionally, there are Native Americans riding horses by and a tepee on the bank of the valley’s river. Through the sublime use of formal elements, Bierstadt reflects the excitement and concerns with Western expansion and settlement at the time, urging caution in the U.S.’s interaction with Native Americans and

Rosalie, Bierdstadt employs the use of color to capture the wondrous power and beauty of the natural setting. The earth tones of the grasses, trees, and mosses in the valley provide a realistic and naturalistic rendering of color in the scene, while varying in intensity and brightness. Similarly, the shades gray in the mountains and clouds and the brightness and intensity of the tones of blue in the sky and water differ throughout the piece. This contrast between the dull and dark coloration of the stormy clouds and the bright and rich coloration of the mountain in the center of the piece helps convey the dual sentiments of moving out west at the time. Hence, through his multifaceted of color, Bierstadt reveals that despite the immense beauty and opportunity the West, Americans should be weary of the potential dangers that are true this natural setting, such Native American tribes and the severe weather conditions of the Rocky

expanding west. Bierdstadt places the viewer on a ridge or hill in the valley that moderately elevates them above the bottom of the valley floor. At this point of view, people can look down into the valley, but also look up at and across to other mountains in the distance. This emphasizes the grand scale and size of the mountains and evokes a range of feeling in onlookers. On one hand, the grand scale of the mountains can evoke awe and wonder in the viewer, but it can also strike fear in its imposing and towering scale. As a result, Bierstadt’s use of point of view effectively displays the excitement with Western expansion, but also the fear and uncertainness that came along with