Albert Bierstadt

Albert Bierstadt was born on January 7, 1830 in Germany, in the city of Solingen. When the boy was two years old, the family moved to the USA in Massachusetts.

At the age of 23, the young man goes to his homeland, to Germany, to master the craft of a painter. There he graduated from the art academy, traveled through the Alps and the Rhine, visited Italy, and at the age of 27 returned to America.

Quite quickly, Albert Bierstadt gained fame as the most popular painter in the city. In 1858 he takes part in the exhibition of the design academy. For this event, Bierstadt Albert paints 15 paintings. After the exhibition, the artist gained great fame throughout the country.

Bierstadt makes several trips to America, in which he makes many sketches. Later they formed the basis of his paintings. An exhibition of new works took place in 1860, and after it the artist gained great fame and recognition, which is not so common in this profession. In 1875, Albert Bierstadt worked on the murals of the Capitol.

The painter became famous not only for the depiction of majestic landscapes, but also for his works on the theme of the life of the American Indians, as well as everyday and genre paintings.

Bierstadt's paintings are extremely detailed, with romantic, almost glowing lighting sometimes referred to as luminism. Some paintings can even be mistaken for photographs - for example, "In the Sierra Nevada", "View of the Yosemite Valley". The artist Bierstadt masterfully owns technique. His works have an impeccable composition and harmonious coloring.

When the artist was 52, a fire destroyed the beautiful mansion in which they lived. A year later, his beloved wife died. To improve his financial situation, Bierstadt began to make copies of his old paintings, which were popular. The replica paintings were made hastily and were significantly inferior to the originals and badly spoiled the reputation of the painter in his declining years.

Bierstadt was a prolific painter who completed over 500 paintings in his lifetime. By the time of his death on February 18, 1902, his interest in epic landscape painting had already faded. After his death, Bierstadt and his painting remained largely forgotten for almost 60 years.