Real-life Setting: Yosemite National Park, California, United States

A World Heritage Site, Yosemite National Park is visited by 3.7 million people per year.

The overwhelming panoramic view down the valley in this massive painting is meant to draw the viewer into the dramatic scene of a magnificent unpopulated landscape.

Critics contest that Bierstadt’s paintings exaggerate the colors and proportion of nature, but he painted primarily for an American audience curious about the West and looking for a mythical Eden untouched by the Civil War that was raging at home.

Though he may have embellished, Bierstadt was truly amazed by what he saw when reaching California. He wrote that: “nowhere is there scenery whose grandeur can for one moment be held comparable with that of the Sierra Nevada in the Yosemite District.”