The de Young Museum

Anna Margaret Clyburn
Mar 1, 2016
1 min read

Finding cultural activities in San Francisco was like finding fresh fruit in Chinatown: easy. One experience I found particularly enjoyable and culturally enlightening was the de Young Museum of San Francisco. Here we spent our time gazing at magnificent artworks and discussing each piece with one another. There were paintings, glass sculptures, clay sculptures, and textiles on display, and each offered a unique perspective upon culture throughout history.Of the wide variety of art on display, the most meaningful group of paintings to me were those by the Hudson River School. My American Studies class covered the Hudson River School extensively in class, which made viewing them in-person even more powerful. These paintings marked a transition to appreciating nature, something that connects to California and the United States today. Society is beginning to realize the consequences of its actions on the environment, sparking a movement focused on conservation of resources and nature. In this way, paintings from the Hudson River School are not only a representation of a cultural movement that took place in the mid 19th century, but also of one that is occuring today.