Thunder Shower

Arthur Dove believed that the actual representation of an object was less important than the subjective expression of its form. This painting employs muted color and flat, expressive forms to convey not the storm itself but rather the feeling of it—high winds, strong atmospheric pressure, the flash of lightning, and clap of thunder. “Dove is the only American painter who is of the earth,” Georgia O’Keeffe wrote of her longtime friend. “Where I come from the earth means everything. Life depends on it.”