To better explore and analyze these distinctions, the exhibition has been divided into six thematic sections that, while inevitably maintaining a certain chronological flow, also serve to focus the viewer on the different attitudes towards the terms of encounter with nature in the two nations.

Nature Transcendent explores the spiritually infused idealization of landscape conjoined with meticulous detailing embraced by the Hudson River School and its followers.

The Stage of History and the Theatre of Myth explores the historical and mythic framework into which landscape was projected in the two countries and its concomitant depictions of Native peoples.

Man versus Nature investigates the manners in which the transformation, exploitation and destruction of nature were presented in the name of progress.

Nature Domesticated turns to the different vision of nature that evolved in North America as a consequence of its wide-open spaces and the importance of the city.

The Urban Landscape examines the rise of an alternative expression of the optimism and Providential destiny previously articulated by the evocation of Virgin Nature.

Return to Nature addresses the “rediscovery” of the transcendence of nature and its spiritual facets through landscapes by artists working within the stylistic terms of the twentieth century.

Albert Bierstadt; Yosemite Valley; 1868; Oil on canvas; 137.8 x 184.2 cm; Oakland Museum of California; Gift of Miss Marguerite Laird in memory of Mr. and Mrs. P. W. Laird; Inv. A64.46
© 2009 The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. All rights reserved. IMPORTANT NOTICE: COPYRIGHT AND REPRODUCTION RIGHTS
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