Frederick Edwin Church is an outstanding American artist of the 19th century, the author of landscapes made in different parts of North America. One of his most interesting works is the painting "Aurora Borealis" (Aurora Borealis), painted in 1865. On a large canvas measuring 142x212 cm, a cold view is depicted: in the white frosty desert one can see a lonely United States ship, locked in ice. At the very bottom we see a small expedition organized by Arctic explorer Isaac Israel Hayes. Team members set off on a dog sled journey to find escape routes or supplies.
However, all this is lost against the background of the grandiose aurora borealis. The artist managed to convey all the subtleties of this natural phenomenon thanks to the accurate sketches of Hayes, whom he knew personally. When the explorer returned from a dangerous journey in 1861, he handed over all the necessary materials to Church. The landscape painter used several motifs at once, combining them together. The mountain depicted in the picture is Church Peak, named after the artist.
On the canvas, invisible lines are pronounced, around which the whole composition is built. In the upper part, where the soft glow of the aurora is located, the outlines of an oval are barely visible. The lower part of the oval is not visible, but it is clear that it passes through the mast of the ship and the team. A ray cuts diagonally from above on the right, bringing dynamics to the frozen landscape. An imaginary line drawn along the beam begins in the upper right corner and ends at the bottom, in the very center of the picture.
There is a version according to which the aurora symbolizes the hope for the end of the American Civil War - the picture was painted in the last months of the bloody conflict.
