Looking Down Yosemite Valley, California
1865 · Oil on canvas · Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama
📦 Free shipping on every order — or upgrade to Express ($14.9) at checkout. Most orders arrive in ~4–8 business days (Express 2–4).
About this work
- Artist
- Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902)
- Year
- 1865
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 163.8 × 245.1 cm
- Collection
- Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama
- Movement
- Hudson River School
The valley floor seen looking due west from just above the Merced River, with El Capitan rising at the right, Sentinel Rock at the left and the spire of Middle Cathedral Rock in the distance, all bathed in a golden haze. This was Bierstadt's first large Yosemite picture, painted in 1865 from sketches made during several weeks in the valley in 1863, and it established the subject that would make him famous. A small oil study of 1864, now in Boston, worked out the composition. The scale is grand, nearly two and a half metres across, and the light is idealised; Bierstadt wrote to a friend that he had found the Garden of Eden in Yosemite. Pictures like this helped build the public sentiment that led to Yosemite's protection. It was given to the Birmingham Museum of Art in Alabama by the Birmingham Public Library in 1991.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
El Capitan and Sentinel Rock in a golden haze, the picture that made Yosemite famous, for a living room, study or hallway at 36×24 in black or natural oak. A cream, sage or warm grey wall; it suits a home with mountain views or none.
- Style
- Hudson River School painting
- Era
- 19th century (1865)
- Orientation
- Landscape
- Mood
- calm
- Rooms
- living room, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. Prints at 18×12, 24×16, 36×24 in — 18×12 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 24×16 above a console or sideboard; 36×24 as the statement piece above a sofa or headboard.
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — black suits the deep tones of this period; oak lightens it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is Looking Down Yosemite Valley, California in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Looking Down Yosemite Valley, California painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
The full-bleed edition
The painting printed edge-to-edge at its own proportions, filling the whole sheet — and available on gallery-wrapped canvas.
