Artwork
The Storm
The Storm is a print by the Impressionist artist James McNeill Whistler. It dates from 1861 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
About this work
It’s less about the storm itself and more about the quiet, cramped moment inside the boat.
You see dark waves crashing over a small boat in the rain, two figures hunched inside.
Whistler painted this in 1861 while stuck on a riverboat with friends during a downpour. The boat’s cover keeps the scene dim, making the water look almost black. It’s less about the storm itself and more about the quiet, cramped moment inside the boat.
Look up *sfumato*—the soft, smoky way Whistler blurred the edges here.
Overview
The Storm is a drypoint print created by James McNeill Whistler in 1861, depicting a moment of refuge inside a covered boat during a tempestuous river outing.
Subject & Meaning
The print focuses on the intimate, subdued scene within the boat, where two figures (identified as Matthew White Ridley and possibly the artist or Edwin Edwards) huddle against the elements. The emphasis lies in capturing the quiet, cramped atmosphere of seeking shelter from the storm rather than the turmoil outside.
Technique & Style
Whistler employed drypoint to create The Storm, characterized by expressive, blurred edges achieved through sfumato, a technique that imparts a soft, smoky quality to the image. The dark, almost black, water and the dimly lit interior of the boat enhance the sense of enclosure and gloom.
History & Provenance
Conceived during a June 1861 camping trip on the river with Edwin Edwards and Matthew White Ridley, The Storm was one of several drypoints Whistler produced on this voyage, despite the challenging weather conditions.
Context
The artwork reflects the influence of outdoor, observational practices inspired by Barbizon artists, such as Charles Daubigny, who used similar covered boats for sketching excursions. Whistler's piece, however, shifts the focus inward, exploring the interior experience of being shielded from nature's fury.
Artist & collection
Artist
James Abbott McNeill Whistler was an American painter in oils and watercolor, and printmaker, active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom.
Arrangement in Black, No. 3: Sir Henry Irving as Philip II of Spain
Arrangement in Flesh Colour and Black: Portrait of Theodore Duret
Gold and Brown: Self-Portrait
Edward Guthrie Kennedy
Harmony in Yellow and Gold: The Gold Girl—Connie Gilchrist
George W. Vanderbilt
Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl
Henry Irving as Philip II of Spain
