The Golden Gate, San Francisco Harbor

This spectacular view of San Francisco depicts the Palace of Fine Arts, which was the site of the Pan-Pacific Exposition in 1915. A native of San Francisco, Clarkson Dye lived most of his life on Union Street which was not far from this famous architectural masterpiece and where this work was painted. The Golden Gate, San Francisco Harbor, painted circa 1915, depicts brilliant morning light as it breaks through low clouds and fog and reflects on the bay. Smoke rises from the chimneys of the buildings below on the hill, and the Palace is silhouetted in the distance. Dye, along with fellow artist and friend, Frank Van Sloun, returned to the spot to paint the large murals inside the rotunda of this magnificent Palace in 1936.