Sunset c. 19th century

William Miller created this piece titled "Sunset" sometime between the late 19th and early 20th century. Look at how the artist captures the sun as it descends, painting the sky with fleeting light. The setting sun, often a symbol of closure, has been depicted across cultures from ancient Egyptian funerary art to Romantic paintings. Think of Caspar David Friedrich’s landscapes, where the setting sun evokes themes of mortality and the sublime. Here, the image might stir feelings of melancholy, a reflection on time's passage. Miller uses the setting sun to tap into a deep well of human emotion. The sun and the tree can be read as symbols of nature's cyclical rhythms. The setting sun suggests an ending, but also the promise of a new dawn, a continuous cycle of life, death, and rebirth that resonates in our collective memory.