Albert Bierstadt (Again) - Toward the Setting Sun 1862

The painting, "Towards the Setting Sun", was painted by Albert Bierstadt (Born in Germany in 1830 and died in New York in 1902) in 1862, and depicts two Native Americans (presumably a mother and child) gazing upon a sunset on the American Plains. This painting captures both the simple living style of the Native American and the untainted natural wilderness of America where all that can be seen are the plains and the sky.

The inclusion of animals in the painting, show the harmonious relationship that the Native Americans had with their environment and nature itself, this is further shown by the presence of only two teepees on an otherwise empty landscape, whereas in other parts of America, towns and villages were being constructed and expanded at a rapid rate and thus in turn brought deforestation and the destruction of of environments previously untouched. This shows the vast differences between the Native People and the "White" settlers of America, where the Native Americans saw areas of natural beauty, the "white man" only saw an opportunity to exploit , to settle and to make a profit.

For me personally this painting has a hidden meaning, and it is one of the end. The fact that the two Native Americans are watching the sun set, could be interpreted as them watching their own culture and people come to end as only 28 years later, the Wounded Knee Massacre occurred (1890), which has resulted in the incarceration of their culture in so called "reservations" which were areas of land that no one else wanted or could use which only further inhibited the Native American people and the effects of this are still felt to this day (reservations having highest levels of unemployment). If you interpret this painting in that manner it can be a painting that brings out a great sadness as it is almost the "curtain call" of a culture.