Albert BierstadtAmerican, 1830–1902Mount Starr King, Yosemite
Can I see it?
Yes, on view now
Where is “Mount Starr King, Yosemite” now? The Cleveland Museum of Art, 206 American Landscape, Cleveland. Yes, on view now. Checked September 29, 2026.
On public display.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the painting
During the summer of 1863, Bierstadt visited Yosemite Valley in California and made numerous sketches. Back in his New York studio, he used them to produce many majestic paintings, including this view of the distant granite peak Mount Starr King. Such scenes thrilled East Coast audiences and helped encourage early movements to safeguard natural wonders. In 1864, President Lincoln signed a bill preserving Yosemite as public property; it became a national park in 1890.
Read on
Bierstadt included two Native Americans with a packhorse in his composition, and their presence references the fact that Indigenous peoples had inhabited or seasonally visited the region for millennia. Over time, various government and military agencies dispossessed them of these ancestral lands. Although no longer residents in the national park, descendants of the seven Indigenous nations with ties to Yosemite persevered to live in neighboring areas.
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Details
- Accession number
- 1922.684
In the catalog
Sources
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Image: The Cleveland Museum of Art — Museum open access
In the life of Albert Bierstadt
The whole life1865
“The Rocky Mountains” sells for $25,000
“The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak” was bought for $25,000 — almost $400,000 in 2020 money: financial recognition confirmed his standing.
1867
Shows his landscapes to Queen Victoria in London
Back in Europe, Bierstadt began in London, where he showed two of his landscapes to Queen Victoria at a private reception.
1867–1869
Two years in Europe: pictures, contacts, publicity
For two years Bierstadt travelled around Europe, painting new works and cultivating social and business contacts to sustain the market for his art on the continent. He matched grand subjects with entrepreneurial flair: his one-picture exhibitions came with promotion and ticket sales — 'a vast machinery of advertisement and puffery', in one critic's words.
1868
The Yosemite pictures bring invitations to expeditions
The publicity around his Yosemite Valley paintings led a number of explorers to ask Bierstadt to join their westward expeditions. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad commissioned him to visit and paint the Grand Canyon and the surrounding region.
