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by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on June 19, 2020 / Updated on October 14, 2023
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000
Thunderstorm in the Rocky Mountains is an oil painting on canvas that was created by Albert Bierstadt in 1859. The work falls within the Luminism style of art that was popular from the 1850s through the 1870s.
It is a classic example of the style that emphasizes the effects that light has on a landscape as well as other common features of the style such as the use of aerial perspective. The style is also characterized by an emphasis on tranquility and calm which can be seen in this work by Bierstadt.
A General Description of Thunderstorm in the Rocky Mountains By Albert Bierstadt
Thunderstorm in the Rocky Mountains depicts a landscape from the Rocky Mountains region of the American west featuring a group of deer drinking from a river surrounded by rocky outcroppings and storm clouds starting to come in from overhead. Other primary features of the work include a dead tree that is featured prominently on the left-hand side of the landscape. There are also several rocky peaks in the far background of the landscape that are somewhat obscured by the incoming clouds that are changing from white to grey.
Sunbeams are still pushing through the cloud cover on the left-hand side of the painting and their effects can be seen on the water as well as the vegetation that is located near the banks of the river. As you move toward the right of the painting, the landscape darkens somewhat as the incoming storm clouds approach. The artist left his inscription in the lower left-hand corner of the work in the form of AB 59. The dimensions of this landscape painting are 48.58 x 73.98 cm.
Where Is Albert Bierstadt's Thunderstorm in the Rocky Mountains Currently on View Today?
Albert Bierstadt's Thunderstorm in the Rocky Mountains is currently on view at Gallery 236 of the Waleska Evans James Gallery of Boston, Massachusetts's Museum of Fine Arts in the United States of America. The painting's accession date was on the 13th of May in 1943 when it was presented to the Museum of Fine Arts as a gift from its last private owners Mrs. John Carroll Perkins and Mrs. Edward Hale. The work was given to the museum in memory of their late father Elias T. Milliken. The assigned accession number of Thunderstorm in the Rocky Mountains by Albert Bierstadt is 43.134.
