True Beauty: American landscapes

The reason  i picked american landscape is because people these days are unaware of true American beauty. The mountains and lands out west or the vast amounts of open fields in the White Plains are what America is all about. So I would put this show on the entrance of the E- building and also in the garden outside so that way everybody has an opportunity to see the different landscapes. I want to see if some of the landscapes that people will look at, bring back any old memories. Basically I want everybody to see my exhibition but it’s very important that people from other parts of the country see the works so that they can connect more. Now that doesn’t mean people from different parts of the world are not welcomed, it just means that true Americans can understand the paintings better than foreigners. Sometimes when you watch such amazing landscapes our mind starts to go places where we haven’t been before. But overall my goal is to show how beautiful America really is.

Asher Durand, Dover Plains, Dutchess County, New York, 1848.

Back in the 1800s the county was called Duchess County and that’s in the Poughkeepsie- Newburgh- Middletown area in today’s civilization. When I first saw this I wanted to pick it because of the beauty of the overall painting. First the blue skies gave me a sense of calmness, and the mountains provide movement and direction. Also what found interesting is that there’s a guy in red looking in the distance. I think his an explorer so his looking at the lands and is amazed about how beautiful it is.

Gerald Coulson, Evening Calm.

The reason I chose this painting is because it makes me so calm when I look at it. This might be the most relaxing painting that I have ever seen. What I mean by that is that you can look at it and you feel so much more relaxed. The sunset is a big reason why this painting has so much calmness and also the calm river makes it just beautiful to stare at. This painting is perfect if you are having a tough day or are frustrated in work. and the open sky with the  vie of the horizon makes it even calmer.

THE VOYAGE OF LIFE BY THOMAS COLE

It looks like the person on the boat is praying for something and on top you can see an angel. So this is more of a religious painting but what I find amazing is the amount of things you see here. First I love the cave and it feels like some type of secret place. Second, the river flowing down the cave gives the painting emotion and I can almost feel it. And finally, I see that there’s a sunset outside so obviously anytime there’s a sunset there’s calmness and beauty. So overall the cave, river and sunset, make it like you want to be there.

AN ARIZONA SUNSET NEAR THE GRAND CANYON BY THOMAS MORAN

The beauty in this painting is obviously the sunset. However in this painting there’s a sunset in the desert or Grand Canyon and not by the water like all the other paintings. It still provides us with a sense of calmness but the clouds look dark so maybe there’s rain in the way. But this painting takes place in Arizona somewhere where there’s not a lot of rain but there’s downpours sometimes near the Grand Canyon. And most importantly you see nothing but open land with small trees and bushes.  

THE GOLDEN SUNSET BY THOMAN MORAN

And I wanted to finish it off with the best sunset possible. In this painting you see a very bright sunset unlike the others. So this sunset doesn’t give us that calmness but it does show power. The brightness of the sunset and the amount of light gives the painting a life of its own. It’s the focal point and everything else doesn’t matter. Without the bright sun, the painting has no power and it’s pointless. So only the sunset makes the painting just simply amazing.