Artwork
The Coming Storm
The Coming Storm is an oil painting by George Bellows. It dates from 1916 and is held in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
About this work
Overview
The painting is part of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s permanent collection, offering a rare glimpse into his engagement with the natural world.
Painted in 1916 by George Bellows, *The Coming Storm* is an oil-on-canvas landscape that departs from his usual urban subjects. Though known for gritty city scenes, Bellows turned to nature for this work, capturing a quiet moment before a weather shift. The painting is part of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s permanent collection, offering a rare glimpse into his engagement with the natural world.
Subject & Meaning
The painting centers on a lone tree standing near a rocky shore, its branches framed against a sky where light clouds gather. The stillness of the water and the calm foreground contrast with the darkening horizon, suggesting an approaching storm. This tension between tranquility and impending change may reflect a broader contemplation of nature’s unpredictability, without overt narrative or symbolism.
Technique & Style
Bellows employed loose, expressive brushwork to render the sky and water, while the tree and rocks are defined with more textured strokes. Chiaroscuro is used subtly to model form and deepen spatial recession, particularly in the shadowed undergrowth and the contrast between sunlit clouds and the encroaching gray. The palette favors muted blues, grays, and earth tones, reinforcing the painting’s restrained mood.
History & Provenance
Created during a period when Bellows was expanding beyond New York’s urban themes, *The Coming Storm* was likely painted during a summer trip to the northeastern coast. It entered the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s collection in the mid-20th century, where it has remained as part of a broader survey of American realist painting from the early 1900s.
Context
In 1916, American artists were increasingly turning to landscape as a means of personal expression amid industrialization. Bellows, though associated with the Ashcan School’s urban realism, engaged with nature in several works during this time, possibly influenced by the broader American Impressionist movement and a growing interest in regional scenery.
Legacy
While not as widely exhibited as Bellows’s urban scenes, *The Coming Storm* remains a significant example of his versatility. It demonstrates his ability to translate emotional atmosphere through landscape, influencing later American painters who sought to merge realism with lyrical observation of the natural world.
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Artist & collection
Artist
George Wesley Bellows (August 12 or August 19, 1882 – January 8, 1925) was an American realist painter, known for his bold depictions of urban life in New York City.
