 George Inness (American, 1825–1894) Sunset on the Passaic, 1891 Oil on canvas
Purchase, 1970 (3698.1) The highly saturated colors and palpable atmosphere of
this painting of the Passaic River at sunset exemplifies
the evocative and highly personal style of George
Inness. Inness was trained in the United States under
the influence of the master landscapists Thomas Cole
and Asher B. Durand, but in the 1850s he traveled
frequently to Paris, where he encountered the artists of
the French Barbizon School. Exchanging the tight
brushwork and heightened illusionism of the Hudson
River School style for the loose subjectivity favored by
the Barbizon artists, Inness developed a highly
expressionistic approach to landscape painting. In this
example, an atmospheric cloak of golden light both
obscures nature’s details and suggests deep
significance beneath its surfaces, for Inness believed
that "everything in nature has something to say to us." |