Natural Wonders: American Landscapes Boxed Notecards

From the first days, American artists turned to the panoramic views and epic narratives of the country’s landscapes to express the pride Americans felt in the continent’s breathtaking natural wonders. Spanning the canvas from the sweep of clouds to the rainbow arcing into the water spray, Alvan Fisher’s The Great Horseshoe Fall, Niagara (1820) conveys the amazing spectacle of this natural wonder. Among the Sierra Nevada, California, one of Albert Bierstadt’s largest and most spectacular western landscapes, was painted in Rome during the winter of 1867–1868 and toured throughout Europe during the following year. The majestic array of cliffs that lines the banks of the Green River in southwestern Wyoming ranked high among Thomas Moran’s favorite western subjects; he returned to the land featured in his Cliffs of the Upper Colorado River, Wyoming Territory time and again. By the time he painted Rainbow over the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone in 1900 the frontier was officially closed and Yellowstone had become the nation’s first national park.

From the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The museum’s collections trace the country’s story in art spanning three centuries, and its in-depth resources offer opportunities to understand that story better.