The Temple of Dendur will be closed Sunday, April 26, through Friday, May 8. The Met Fifth Avenue will be closed on Monday, May 4.

Plan your visit

Approaching Thunder Storm

1859
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 761
A man and his dog sit perched on the shore of Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, sunlight at their backs as they witness darkening clouds and a thin bolt of lightning warning of the tempest to come. Heade vividly captures the anticipation—in the words of a critic of his day, the “ominous hush”—that prevailed under a blackening sky and the eerily illuminated terrain. This is one of the earliest works in a small series of coastal storm subjects painted by Heade, based on a sketch of an approaching storm he witnessed from Prudence Island around 1858.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Approaching Thunder Storm
  • Artist: Martin Johnson Heade (1819–1904)
  • Date: 1859
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 28 x 44in. (71.1 x 111.8cm)
    Framed: 42 1/2 × 58 3/8 × 5 in. (108 × 148.3 × 12.7 cm)
  • Credit Line: Gift of Erving Wolf Foundation and Mr. and Mrs. Erving Wolf, in memory of Diane R. Wolf, 1975
  • Object Number: 1975.160
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

Audio

Cover Image for 4360. Approaching Thunder Storm, Part 1

4360. Approaching Thunder Storm, Part 1

0:00
0:00
We're sorry, the transcript for this audio track is not available at this time. Please email info@metmuseum.org to request a transcript for this track.

    Listen to more about this artwork

More Artwork

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please contact us using the form below. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.

Send feedback