Siout, Egypt

Monumental, expansive, alive. It's no wonder that this landscape of the city of Asyut in Upper Egypt is one of the most popular works by American artist Sanford Robinson Gifford. Created in oil, the medium allowed the artist to softly and skillfully convey the atmosphere of intense heat and omnipresent sunlight, playing with light and shadow.

As a representative of the Hudson River School, the artist often depicted landscapes infused with a sense of romanticism. We can sense this mood through the warm colors he used: yellow, green, beige. The painting doesn’t just depict warmth — it radiates it. So it's safe to assume that Gifford was inspired by artists working in the Luminist tradition and successfully incorporated that approach into his own works.