Weathering the impending storm
The thought of visiting an art gallery was in my mind for quite some time. It was an exciting day when I visited the famous Dallas Museum of Arts, located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. ?There were floors of different arts from America, Asia, Europe, and African arts. The moment I entered the gallery, I was both impressed and overwhelmed by the large collections of art and sculptures around me as I walked each floor of the museum.
As I warmed up with my slow walk, the European section of the museum caught my attention. There were many paintings displayed on the walls. And one oil on canvas painting of Claude-Joseph Vernet (French, 1714-1789), titled “A Mountain Landscape with an Approaching Storm” impressed me, almost to the extent of shock. I remained glued to the painting hung on the wall.? Staring at the artwork, my mind was nearly lost in the stormy event that was taking place right in front of my eyes.? My heart pounded in empathy with the fishermen, the lady, the child, and even the animals. ?The display on the wall, just perfect and positioned at my eye level too, with the perfect lighting, I could feel the storm to be real. Vernet, a French artist created this 64.5in x 103.1-inch sized art canvas in the year 1775.? I feel that this is indeed a mountain landscape but can even be a stormy landscape.
The canvas almost had its emotion of fear displayed at its extreme with the menacing storm, with winds swirling the branches of trees and thunderous lightning strikes with fishermen struggling to take control of their fishing net, the ladies trying to move to a safer place.? Vernet’s subject matter this time being the marine life, fishermen and the ladies with their kids, even the dog and horse too became part of the heavy storm. ?
My first impression of the canvas was Vernet’s ability to brush the ambiance of an approaching storm as human figures struggling to withstand it. The use of lights and atmospheric elements with the menacing wind power that moves horizontally from left to right, brought within me a churn of emotion, almost to the extent as if I too was getting involved in the fury of nature.
Vernet’s use of textures creating a painting in motion and the interplay of shadow and light, thunderous lighting in the far left and the sun (though not directly visible) brightens the cloud and one part of the far building and Rocky Mountains. The motion is also indicated through the water flow below the bridge, frothing between the rocks, the waterfall splashing. The sun creates an ambience of brightness with beautiful visual spectacle of the landscape. ?The foliage on the trees darker in the left and brighter to the right where the sun rays fall directly.? The yellow ochre tone around the radiance of the sun itself is a masterstroke from Vernet that brings a different texture with left side trees in comparison to greener texture of leaf in the far-right side of the rocky terrain.
Vernet has made use of the edges and texture to create atmospheric depth.? Vernet softens the edges as the horizon recedes. The bridge, the flowing water, clouds, and far away buildings all look hazy.
Vernet uses spaces with clear visibility. Most of the action is in the foreground - the fishermen, the lady with the child, few villagers struggling to control the horse who just refuses to move. Later, it shifts to the midground with the water flowing under the bridge and rocky terrains and the waterfall and fishermen in the boat struggling to park to the land and then progress spectacularly towards the background with the far forts and the bridge and the radiance from the sun and the clouds. All this creates a depth that reveals a story. ?Vernet uses the vertical pattern and horizontal pattern from left to right to show the movement of painting.
The use of impressive color tones with more solid saturation and hue with intensity of light heavy wherever the sunlight falls. The bright and shaded regions are clearly separated out. Nature (both in its calmness and furious state) is well depicted, and it looks realistic as if it is still happening in front of me.
Overall, the composition of all these elements in the art created a visual spectacle that almost made the viewers of this canvas pause and feel the fury of nature and even empathize with the villagers. I love how Vernet creates fury of the windstorm with the struggling of the lady with the kid in her arm. The kid tries to wriggle out from her arm while she moves away from the harsh wind. And her skirts swirling was brilliantly sketched to show the motion. Though small in proportion to the entire canvas but it creates so much impact on the scene.
Claude Joseph Vernet very purpose of this canvas could be his deep interest in the life of the marine life and the fishermen’s daily chores. Vernet would have seen these glimpses during his days and would have been in his subconscious mind. Later, he would have created his magic with his skillful brushwork and awesome color palette. Exactly for this reason that even the villagers in those times would be surprised by its authenticity. Vernet’s deep understanding of nature and its fury brought out the best in him to create a visual that would have created an indelible mark on the artistic world in those times.
When I see Vernet’s other works such as Seaport by Moonlight, The Night, The Shipwreck, Mediterranean night, A Storm on a Mediterranean Coast, it makes me think that he has a deep connection to these themes. I left the Museum, impressed with the versatile brushwork of Vernet. It etched an impression within me and will cherish those moments at the museum, promising myself to return soon.
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Citation:
1] Claude-Joseph Vernet (French, 1714-1789), A Mountain Landscape with an Approaching Storm, 1775, Oil on canvas, Foundation for the Arts Collection, Mrs. John B O’Hara Fund, 1983, 41, FA
2] Wall text for oil on canvas A Mountain Landscape with an Approaching Storm, by Claude-Joseph Vernet, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, 2023
Notes:
1] Photographs taken at the venue, Dallas Museum of Art, 1717 North Harwood, Dallas, Texas 75201, June 17, 2023
2] Claude Joseph Vernet Biography | Oil Paintings, https://theworldsartist.com/artist/claude-joseph-vernet, ? Copyright 2006-2023