The Storm

This landscape, imbued with strong natural and dramatic effects, is typical of Diaz’s late work. The view is across the desolate heathlands near the village of Barbizon. The combination of the dominant stormy sky with its mass of grey clouds and the bleak plain conjures up the terrors of a storm out in the open. The sky breaks only at the centre to show patches of blue, an unseen sun casting light onto the path below. To the right of this path a man carrying a gun is accompanied by two dogs.

Diaz has adapted his brushstrokes to the drama of the scene. The landscape is painted in short, choppy, horizontal and diagonal strokes, whereas the treatment of the sky, with multi-directional and expansive brushwork, echoes the stormy weather it describes. At the centre, vertical strokes are brought down over the tops of the bushes, perhaps suggesting rainfall.

Text: © The National Gallery, London

Painting photographed in its frame by Google Arts & Culture, 2023.