Buffalo Trail: The Impending Storm
1869
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 74.9 × 125.7 cm (29 1/2 × 49 1/2 in.) framed: 110.8 × 162.2 × 15.9 cm (43 5/8 × 63 7/8 × 6 1/4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CAB
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, through the gift of Mr. and Mrs. Lansdell K. Christie)
Accession Number
2014.79.3
Rights
Public Domain
Art Historical Context
Albert Bierstadt's *Buffalo Trail: Thepending Storm* (1869) captures the raw majesty of the American West in sweeping oil-on-canvas landscape. Measuring nearly 75 by 126 cm, the painting depicts a vast herd of buffalo thundering along a trail toward a river, dwarfed by towering mountains and ominous storm clouds gathering on the horizon. Bierstadt, a leading figure in the Hudson River School, masterfully evokes the sublime power of nature, blending meticulous detail with dramatic scale to transport viewers to the untamed frontier. Created shortly after the Civil War, the work reflects the era's Romantic fascination with westward expansion and Manifest Destiny. Bierstadt's expeditions to the Rockies informed his luminous style, where shafts of golden light pierce brooding skies, heightening tension between serenity and impending doom. His oil technique allowed rich glazes for atmospheric depth, making the canvas shimmer with life. Now part of the National Gallery of Art's Corcoran Collection, this painting not only showcases Bierstadt's technical prowess but also serves as a poignant reminder of the vanishing buffalo herds and Native American lifeways, immortalizing a fleeting chapter of American history.
About the Artist
Albert Bierstadt · 1830–1902
Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902) was a German-American landscape painter renowned for his monumental, luminous depictions of the American West. As a prominent member of the second generation of the Hudson River School and the Rocky Mountain School, Bierstadt created sweeping panoramas that captured the sublime grandeur of untamed wilderness with unprecedented theatrical scale and romantic vision. His ...