Albert Bierstadt’s large, panoramic landscape of the Yosemite Valley pulls the viewer into the dramatic scene. Missing in the painting are any people—only a shroud of golden light breaks through the clouds.

The high viewpoint in Richard Diebenkorn’s “Cityscape I” moves the observer above and over parcels of land, fitting them into complex shapes that lock together like a puzzle. Cityscape I is a combination of a closely observed, actual location and an invented landscape.