Surveyor’s Wagon in the Rockies

The vast, open expanse of prairie, which dwarfs the lone figure in its midst, is bounded only by the rise of distant mountains. Though small in scale, this study effectively evokes a sense of overwhelming isolation. Best known for his dramatic paintings of the West, Albert Bierstadt also made more intimate sketches that capture with equal power the expansive grandeur of the Rocky Mountains.

Bierstadt painted Surveyor's Wagon in the Rockies in 1859 while part of a government survey party bound for the Rocky Mountains. Artists like Bierstadt wanted their largely Eastern clientele to know they had actually seen the landscape they painted. Travel through the area was nearly impossible, however, without the provisions and expertise provided by military or government expeditions.