Day's Beginning 1856

Albert Bierstadt, a German-American painter associated with the Hudson River School, captured this idyllic landscape in "Day's Beginning" with oil on canvas. Born in Germany and raised in America, Bierstadt’s history is one of cultural translation. His paintings embody the 19th-century American fascination with landscape as a symbol of national identity and expansionist destiny. The way he frames the vast, untouched wilderness plays into a narrative of American exceptionalism. However, this narrative often erases or romanticizes the displacement of Indigenous populations and the exploitation of natural resources that came with westward expansion. While beautiful, Bierstadt's landscapes can be seen as complex artifacts that promote ideas about progress, inviting us to consider whose stories are being told and whose are being left out.