The lush upper half of this painting is an homage to Martin Johnson Heade's 1871 painting titled "Cattleya Orchid and Three Hummingbirds" which resides at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Loosely associated with the Hudson River School, Heade's paintings are marked by dramatic lighting and atmosphere and are often described as romantic or luminist. He made several trips to Brazil, where he produced a series of smaller works depicting hummingbirds and tropical flora, ultimately with the intention to produce a book called "The Gems of Brazil" which never materialized.

David Bierk’s work bridges past and present, often reinterpreting canonical artworks by situating them within new pictorial frameworks that juxtapose text and image. Through his use of Heade’s painting, Bierk evokes the 19th-century North American concept of manifest destiny; the vision of an untamed landscape imagined as a paradise or sanctuary upon which hopes and dreams could be projected. By reframing this ideal as a kind of eulogy, Bierk suggests that in the contemporary era, no such nirvana remains to be discovered. The romantic sensibility, in turn, recognizes that these places were always constructs of the imagination, and that true sanctuary now resides within the imaginative realm of art itself.

Consignor proceeds from the sale of this work will benefit the Vancouver Hospice Society.