Sentinel Rock, Yosemite 1880

Thomas Hill painted Sentinel Rock, Yosemite, an awe-inspiring vista, at an unknown date. Hill was part of the second generation of Hudson River School painters, who focused on the sublimity of the American landscape. During the 19th century, Yosemite Valley became a symbol of American identity and expansion, embodying both the sublime and the promise of the frontier. But this romantic vision often obscured the displacement and marginalization of Indigenous peoples, whose ancestral lands were being claimed and commodified. Hill’s paintings contributed to this narrative by presenting an idealized view of the landscape, devoid of the complex histories and social realities of the time. "Sentinel Rock, Yosemite" invites us to reflect on the intersections of nature, identity, and power, urging us to consider whose stories are told and whose are left out of the grand narrative of the American West.