The Architecture of Awe
Bierstadt did not paint Lake Lucerne because he had fond memories of a Swiss vacation. He painted a six-by-ten-foot monster of a canvas because he wanted to own the American art world.
It was 1858 and he was hungry. He needed something that would grab the critics by the throat at the National Academy of Design. This colossal oil painting did exactly that and launched him straight into the top tier of American landscape painters. He built this overwhelming spectacle indoors. He sat in a dusty studio and scaled up tiny field sketches he made in Europe. He took those quiet moments and blew them up into a sweeping panoramic scale designed to completely crush the viewer under the weight of sublime nature. You stand in front of it and you feel small. That was the whole point.
The dramatic lighting effects were a rehearsal. He used the sharp peaks and glowing atmosphere of the Alps to figure out his signature formula. He would take this exact theatrical trick and apply it to the massive western American mountain scenes that eventually made him a legend. He learned how to manufacture awe on a canvas and he never looked back. Lake Lucerne was the blueprint for every rugged peak and glowing valley he would ever paint. Bierstadt figured out exactly what the public wanted to see and he gave it to them by the ton.
References
Anderson, Nancy K. Albert Bierstadt Art and Enterprise. New York Hudson Hills Press 1990.
Hendricks, Gordon. Albert Bierstadt Painter of the American West. New York Harrison House 1988.
