Approaching Thunder Storm

Martin Johnson Heade American

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 761

Approaching Thunder Storm is one of the earliest works in a small series of coastal storm subjects painted by Heade. Here, the artist has depicted Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, looking toward Rocky Point from Prudence Island, basing the scene on a sketch of an approaching storm he witnessed around 1858. Rejecting the convention of painting tempests at full tilt, Heade instead vividly captured the anticipation—in the words of a critic of his day, the “ominous hush”—that prevailed under a blackening sky and over the eerily illuminated terrain. The image became the basis for a more elaborate and synthetic version of the subject painted in 1868 (Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas).

#4360. Approaching Thunder Storm, Part 1

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  1. 4360. Approaching Thunder Storm, Part 1
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Approaching Thunder Storm, Martin Johnson Heade (1819–1904), Oil on canvas, American

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Approaching Thunder Storm, Martin Johnson Heade (1819–1904), Oil on canvas, American
Approaching Thunder Storm, Martin Johnson Heade (1819–1904), Oil on canvas, American

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