Recently, I have been getting into classical art. I had come across an artist by the name of Albert Bierstadt. He is a German-American oil paint artist who is best known for his lavish painting of the American West. He was born in 1830 and joined many westward journeys during the Westward Expansion. He was a witness to the changing west and became a pivotal piece in changing the perception of the west to the general public.

His story is an inspiration to me. When thinking about the wild west you think of how the frontiersmen and rangling cowboys shaped the west that we see today. We often forget that art CAN and HAS made great impacts in history. There were no cameras or ways to show the people on the East Coast the beautiful scenery of the west and Albert Bierstadt used his talent to progress the westward expansion of the United States. (Below I have included two paintings of his, “A Storm in the Rocky Mountains, Mt. Rosalie” and “Oregon Trail” both by Albert Bierstadt)