Forest Fire

Raden Saleh (1807 or 1811 - 1880) is regarded as one of the most important 19th century artists from Java. This relentless and tragic tale of life and death is powerfully narrated through the vivid depiction of the animals and the dramatic use of light and dark on a monumental scale. Hailed as the “father of modern Indonesian painting”, Raden Saleh Sjarif Bustaman is known for his landscape and animal hunt paintings that are full of energy and emotive. Painted during the last years of Raden Saleh’s long sojourn in Europe, and the largest known example of the artist’s oeuvre, the work manifests his technical mastery of the oil medium, realism, and the language of European Romanticism.