Soulscape 14, Through Art, We See the World in Its True Colors
From My Upcoming Book: Soulscape – The Role of Art in Our Lives
Albert Bierstadt, View from the Wind River Mountains, Wyoming, 1860. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. WC.
Looking at this Bierstadt masterpiece, we can sense that the scene either happened in early light or late in the day, due to the light coming from the lower left, behind the shadowed mountains. Deep in space, near the horizon, we see a light pale golden-green haze that diffuses where the land, sky, and clouds meet.
A year earlier, Nancy, a collector who had purchased one of my pastel landscapes, shared an intriguing experience with me. While driving across California, she noticed a landscape that reminded her of my pastel. She told me, in a state of wonder, that she had never noticed colors in a real landscape before. Through art she began to see the world in its true colors. It was a Eureka moment for her.
Perhaps the next time you see a landscape like in the Bierstadt, but in real life, you might notice a diffused haze in the distance and recognize the colors that make it up.
Art is a window to our future.
Artwork: View from the Wind River Mountains, Wyoming, by Bierstadt.
Written and Voice by Michael Newberry.
Video created with Clipchamp.
Oh yes, every day and this time of year the most amazing colors with every sunrise and sunset.
This is uncanny to read this today; I was driving home in the late afternoon and the sun was turning all the trees lining the highway into the most brilliant shades of orange and deep red with blues and lavender and violet shadows. It was illuminating the trees on both sides of the road at one point in the most saturated, vibrant, color. I am lucky I was not the driver because I was overcome, distracted, painting the colors in my head.