Taj Mahal Sunset

Taj Mahal Sunset, created in 1919, captures the mausoleum at the opposite end of the day from its dawn counterpart, when the setting sun floods the western sky with warm color and the marble surfaces take on deep amber and rose tones. The Yamuna River, flowing past the Taj Mahal's northern face, reflects this warm light, and the surrounding gardens darken as shadows lengthen across the formal Mughal pathways.

This oban woodblock print required a palette dominated by warm pigments: the oranges, reds, and golds of a tropical sunset layered over the white ground of the marble structure. Bartlett's 1919 printing date, three years after his Indian journey, suggests a work refined through extended consideration of color relationships and compositional balance. The Taj Mahal's bilateral symmetry provides a stable architectural framework against which the dynamic, asymmetrical drama of the sunset plays out, creating a tension between the building's eternal permanence and the fleeting spectacle of the sky.