Estes Park, Colorado 

Editor: This is "Estes Park, Colorado," an oil painting by Albert Bierstadt, most likely painted en plein air. It has a somber yet majestic feel... those mountains seem to loom over everything. How do you interpret this work? Curator: I see this as more than just a pretty landscape. Think about the historical context: Bierstadt was painting these scenes during a period of intense westward expansion. The Hudson River School, to which he belonged, often depicted the land as a resource to be dominated, implicitly encouraging colonization. Editor: So, you're saying it's not just about the beauty, but also about the politics of landscape painting at the time? Curator: Precisely! Who had access to these landscapes, who was displaced in the making of them ‘available’, and how did these images shape the American narrative? These are critical questions. Do you notice how the light emphasizes the "untouched" quality, almost erasing any Indigenous presence? Editor: That’s a perspective I hadn't considered before. I was focused on the visual drama. Curator: The visual drama is intentional, but for what purpose? Consider the philosophy of Manifest Destiny. Paintings like this visually legitimized that ideology, making expansion seem inevitable and even divinely ordained. What might it mean to reconsider this 'pristine' landscape with an understanding of the ecological impact, forced removals, and broken treaties that shaped the very land Bierstadt captured? Editor: Wow, it completely changes the way I look at it. It’s no longer just a scene; it's a statement, or even a tool. Curator: Exactly. We need to constantly question the narratives these landscapes present, acknowledging the complex, often painful, histories embedded within them. Editor: I will definitely look at these paintings with new eyes from now on! Thank you.