Description
This awe-inspiring landscape was the Museum’s very first acquisition on the occasion of its founding in 1876. Bierstadt was born in Germany, but lived and painted in the United States. Associated with the Hudson River School of painters, Bierstadt was famous for large scale works like this one, which came to exemplify the majesty of the American landscape. The artist’s depiction of Hetch Hetchy Canyon, in California, is filled with soft, warm light that seems to permeate the valley. The small elk in the foreground give us a sense of our own scale in this sweeping landscape. Try standing about ten feet away from the painting, and slowly come closer to it, noticing how your perspective changes, and what details emerge as you get closer.
The scene before you is an important document of a bygone era; in 1913 Congress authorized the flooding of the Hetch Hetchy Valley to build a reservoir for the city of San Francisco, almost completely erasing the landscape depicted here.
Details
- Work Date:
- 1875
- Location:
- Warbeke Gallery
- Dimensions:
- Frame: 68 3/4 in x 59 1/2 in x 7 in; 174.6 cm x 151.1 cm x 17.8 cm; Stretcher: 51 3/8 in x 41 3/4 in; 130.5 cm x 106 cm
- Medium:
- Oil on canvas