Event Date(s):
January 31 – May 16, 2026
Event Location: UC Irvine Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art (Langson IMCA)
Irvine, CA 92612
At Home in Sunlight: A State in Motion, explores California during a transformative period of unprecedented growth, when its industrial infrastructure and cultural identity were rapidly evolving.
At the turn of the 20th century, California was a state in motion. Its major urban centers—San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego—competed to establish themselves as dominant Pacific trade hubs open to Asia. Simultaneously, waves of artists arriving westward from Europe and the US Midwest sought to capture the state’s landscape and new way of life.
Painting outdoors, or en plein air, these artists developed innovative visual vocabularies to express both the ideal beauty of California’s environment and the realism of everyday life. Their work reflected a dynamic period of transformation, as booming populations and growing cities reshaped the land.
From the luminous vistas of California Impressionism to the grounded perspectives of Regionalism, the California Watercolor School, and Social Realism, artists charted the state’s evolution—its expanding built environment, shifting social fabric, and emerging modern identity.
Through At Home in Sunlight, visitors experience California through the eyes of artists who made it their adopted home—revealing the aspirations, anxieties, and transformative energy that turned the state into a symbol of American reinvention.
At Home in Sunlight is part of a new academic engagement initiative that supports UCI graduate students in curatorial practice through hands-on experience in a professional museum setting. Developed in close collaboration with museum staff across departments, the year-long program culminates in an exhibition drawn entirely from the museum’s collection. This project reflects the UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art’s commitment to research, learning, and academic mentorship.
