Oakland Museum of California

Discreetly located in downtown Oakland is a gem of California culture and art, the Oakland Museum of California. The museum, divided into three levels, tells the history of California and the Bay Area through numerous forms of media and allows for visitors to interact with the displays and leave their own images, writings and experiences along the way.

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The history gallery is based around the theme “Coming to California.” Vividly illustrated and extremely detailed, this exhibition gives a broad view of the development California over time: from Native American life in the west, the impact of Spanish colonization, construction of major cities and railways and the impact of the ever changing political climates in California, with a special focus on the Bay Area. The interactive exhibition is fun and interesting for children and adults alike and gives a unique insight into the evolution of California.

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The art gallery at the Oakland Museum includes over 70,000 works by California artists, ranging in disciplines and topics with subject matters significant to the California region and ideologies. Large-scale landscape paintings by Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Hill and William Keith, show the great skill of the artists and refined beauty of the Sierras in the late 1900’s. 

The photography collection includes Dorothea Lange’s documentation of the Great Depression across the US and a dynamic book of Carleton Watkins photographs of Yosemite. Figurative and abstract paintings by local and California artists bring life and color to this diverse collection.

Fourth of July, near Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Dorothea Lange

July, 1939

Photograph

The Oakland Museum is filled with fascinating information about California history, beautifully translated and displayed with an inviting and aesthetic approach, appealing to all of the senses.