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The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak

1863
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 760
In early 1859, Bierstadt accompanied a government survey expedition, headed by Frederick W. Lander, to the Nebraska Territory. By summer, the party had reached the Wind River Range of the Rocky Mountains in present-day Wyoming. Painted in New York after Bierstadt’s return, this work advertised the landscape as a frontier destined to be claimed by White settlers, according to the doctrine of Manifest Destiny. This belief that Americans were the divinely ordained "masters" of the continent systematically ignored—with dire consequences—the presence of Indigenous populations, such as the Shoshone peoples depicted in the foreground.


Read a Native Perspective on this work.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak
  • Artist: Albert Bierstadt (American, Solingen 1830–1902 New York)
  • Date: 1863
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 73 1/2 x 120 3/4 in. (186.7 x 306.7 cm)
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1907
  • Object Number: 07.123
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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