In 1947, Andreas Feininger made a photograph that might be the single most perfect picture ever made of Route 66. It is beautiful, of course, but it is also a remarkable distillation of an idea: namely, that the American West is a place where people find themselves, or lose themselves, amid heat, sun, open spaces, enormous skies.
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| (Photo by Andreas Feininger – The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock) |
Feininger’s photograph, taken in Seligman, Arizona, is packed with “information”—cars, a bus, human figures, a gas station, a garage, towering clouds, an arrow-straight ribbon of road to the horizon—but it’s the emptiness of the space that is most attractive. It can be read as a metaphor for the blank slate that innumerable people have sought in the West. Here is where you can redefine yourself, the scene suggests. Reimagine yourself. Reinvent yourself. Then keep moving.
Feininger, who was trained as an architect at the famous Bauhaus school in Germany before fleeing to the United States, brought a strict sense of structure, scale, and composition to his work. To achieve the dramatic contrast seen here, Feininger utilized a red lens filter. The filter absorbed the blue light of the desert sky, turning it into an intense, ink-black backdrop, which made the billowing white cumulus clouds violently pop forward. This stark contrast, paired with the straight road vanishing into the distance, perfectly framed the American Dream of absolute freedom and infinite possibilities.
Though taken in 1947, the photograph was archived and officially published by LIFE in a 1953 feature. Because of its flawless composition, it became popular as a wall print. It holds a permanent place in the cultural footprint of Route 66, serving as a nostalgic window into the golden age of American automobile travel before interstate highways bypassed these vibrant roadside towns.
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