Analysis Of The American Progress By John Gast

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The American Progress by John Gast was a painting that focused on the Manifest Destiny in 1872. Westward Expansion was an ideal thought throughout the nineteenth century by early Americans. This ideology was common at the time because American’s thought that the Manifest destiny would allow them to start off fresh; commonly, people thought that it was an economic opportunity. Evidently, this ideal start of a new life portrayed a positive view of Westward expansion. Gast’s painting is an example of the Westward expansion and how it symbolizes a wonderful uprising to move forward with life. This painting shows the highlights of the expansion, but this may not have been the complete truth behind the artwork. Gast’s painting is the landscape of America: the Eastern part of America is painted on the right side of the canvass and the Western part of America is painted on the left side of the painting. Gast goes into great detail to portray lighting in order to compare the scenery of the east to the west. He does this by making the right side of the painting very bright and as one moves to...

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