Afterglow: Frederic Church and the Landscape of Memory

At the heart of this exhibition are Frederic Church’s rarely seen memorial landscape paintings. While Church is best known for his monumental, panoramic paintings of natural wonders, he also created smaller, intimate works full of personal symbolism for a primary audience of friends and family. Church painted these memorial landscapes throughout his career, and they are key documents of nineteenth-century America’s search for spirituality in nature. As he experienced personal losses, Church expressed grief through his paintings and immersed himself in the natural world to heal. At Olana, Church’s family home and designed landscape, the historic house interacts with the landscape and framed views of the natural world, a powerful source of solace and inspiration. As you explore Olana, we invite you to reflect on the healing power of landscapes in your own life.