Long's Peak, Estes Park, Colorado 

Albert Bierstadt painted ‘Long's Peak, Estes Park, Colorado’ using oil on canvas. Dominating the composition, we have a mountain, a symbol that has resonated through centuries, embodying steadfastness, challenge, and spiritual ascent. Mountains in art have been seen as places where the terrestrial meets the divine. Consider Titian's ‘Christ in the Garden of Olives,’ where the mountain silhouette in the background echoes Christ’s spiritual trial, or Caspar David Friedrich's solitary wanderers atop peaks, contemplating the sublime. This motif taps into our collective unconscious, where mountains represent not only physical obstacles but also our innermost struggles and aspirations. Bierstadt’s mountain, with its snow-capped peak piercing the sky, evokes a primal sense of awe and yearning. The mountain, constant and enduring, mirrors our own journey through time, reminding us of the cyclical nature of existence.