View from Garrison, West Point, New York 1870

David Johnson invites us to gaze upon a serene vista in "View from Garrison, West Point, New York". In the mid-19th century, landscape paintings weren't just about pretty views; they were wrapped up in ideas of national identity, expansion, and our relationship to the land. This was the time of Manifest Destiny, when many believed that the United States was destined to expand across the continent. Artists like Johnson played a role in shaping these beliefs. Here, we see nature presented as calm and inviting, seemingly devoid of the conflicts that expansion often brought. But whose story is missing? The landscapes so beautifully rendered often mask the displacement and erasure of Indigenous people. As we admire the view, perhaps we should also reflect on the complexities of history embedded within it.