Astounding glow of Frederic Church's Aurora Borealis and yet its enduring message of War's devastation resonates today (Smithsonian Institute in DC)

The word Smithsonian brings back memories of reading Time Magazine and Reader's Digest Magazine back in my younger days and New Yorker in my college years. It is a depository of all American Art. I learned that the Smithsonian Institute houses varied all-American thingy that has historical significance. I just chose two, the Museum  of American Art and its sister, the Renwick Gallery.

These are the six features in the museum when we visited. I like the space and dedicated rooms, wings and floors in this museum as it gave intimacy to the art and the viewer. Meanwhile, the traffic is flowing outside of the room which is not annoying when one is having a personal commune with a particular art. 

I want to bring your eyes with me to gaze towards the painting of Frederic Edwin Church as its glowing and admirable Northern Light has a gift of reflection on the end result of every war. This is a very relevant painting when taken in its historical context. Russia and Ukraine should come to discuss their differences rather then sacrifice the lives of their men and women, compromise for peace even if it means overlooking historical differences, and look forward to growth in the future in mutual cooperation. This matters, after all we are a global community which should focus on other important wars like climate change. 

This is such a charming painting with Frederic Church achieving the glow of the Northern Light given that this painting is merely one dimensional. But beauty it bears in light and sadness too in the bleakly colored foreground. when taken in the historical milieu, this painting was unveiled shortly before the American civil war ended and the victory of the Union  (or the North) is evident. 

First, Aurora Borealis is referred to as the Northern Lights, so it points to the Union or the North. It is interpreted that this painting may shine light but it is not celebratory at all. The bleak foreground is a mourning ground for many deaths as a result of the civil war.

The central cause of war between the Union or The North and the Confederacy or The South was the dispute over whether slavery would be permitted to expand in the western territories or be prevented from doing so. 

 

Related stories are Battle of Gettysburg and Battle of Franklin.