Frederic Edwin ChurchAmerican, 1826–1900Twilight in the Wilderness
Can I see it?
Yes, on view now
Where is “Twilight in the Wilderness” now? The Cleveland Museum of Art, 206 American Landscape, Cleveland. Yes, on view now. Checked September 29, 2026.
On public display.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the painting
Twilight in the Wilderness is an 1860 oil painting by American painter Frederic Edwin Church. The woodlands of the northeastern United States are shown against a setting sun that intensely colors the dramatic altocumulus clouds. Church scholar John K. Howat describes the painting as "one of his finest ever" and as "the single most impressive example of Church's depictions of unsullied North American woodlands and their most famous representation in nineteenth-century painting".
In the museum's words
In his New York studio, Church painted this spectacular view of a blazing sunset over wilderness near Mount Katahdin in Maine, which he had sketched during a visit nearly two years earlier. Although Church often extolled the grandeur of American landscape in his work, this painting appears to have additional overtones. Created on the eve of the Civil War, the painting's subject can be interpreted as symbolically evoking the coming conflagration. Church's considerable technical skills and clever showmanship contributed to his fame as the premier artist of his generation. Rather than debut this painting in an annual exhibition with works by other artists as was the custom, Church instead exhibited it by itself at a prestigious art gallery. Coaxed by advance publicity and highly favorable press reviews, several hundred spectators flocked to admire it during its seven-week run.
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Details
- Accession number
- 1965.233
In the catalog
Sources
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Image: The Cleveland Museum of Art — Museum open access
In the life of Frederic Edwin Church
The whole life1859
A one-picture show: “The Heart of the Andes” in New York
Thousands paid to see the canvas: its huge floor-standing frame served as a window onto the Andes, visitors sat on benches and studied the details through opera glasses, and Church arranged the room so that light from the skylights fell on the picture. It was an instant success; at this exhibition Church met his future wife, Isabel Carnes.
1859
To the icebergs: Newfoundland and Labrador
His friendship with the Arctic explorer Isaac Israel Hayes stirred Church’s interest in the far north, and with his friend the Rev. Louis Legrand Noble he travelled to Newfoundland and Labrador. Noble chronicled the trip in “After Icebergs with a Painter” (1861), published shortly before “The Icebergs” went on display.
1860
Marries Isabel Carnes and buys a farm on the Hudson
Church bought a farm near Hudson, New York, and married Isabel Mortimer Carnes (born 1836) of Dayton, Ohio. By 1860 he was the most renowned artist in America.
