Cloud Study
Johan Christian Dahl Norwegian
Not on view
In May 1836, Balke stayed with Dahl in Dresden. He could well have seen this plein-air study, which is dated May 9, 1828, among the hundreds that filled the elder artist's studio. Dahl told Balke that "there is no other way to become a real painter than by painting from nature." However, while Balke's art was inspired by his ample personal experience of the outdoors, he does not seem to have painted directly from nature, nor did he paint in the naturalistic vein exemplified by Dahl.