Tropical Landscape with Fishing Boats in Bay 

Albert Bierstadt painted this oil on canvas, entitled "Tropical Landscape with Fishing Boats in Bay," some time during his career. It presents us with a tranquil scene of leisure and labor against the backdrop of a radiant sunset. But let’s think about how this image participates in the cultural and institutional history of landscape painting. Bierstadt was a key figure in the Hudson River School, a mid-19th-century American art movement. The school's artists created romanticized, awe-inspiring visions of the American landscape, often promoting the idea of manifest destiny. While this painting isn't definitively located, the tropical setting hints at the expansionist desires of the United States at the time. It's a vision of exotic lands ripe for American exploration and economic exploitation. By diving into the history of American art and its relationship to expansionism, we can reveal the complex social and political forces that shaped not only the art, but the world around it.