In The Rainbow, Inness arranged nature to imbue it with a sense of divine presence. He created a stark atmospheric contrast moving from the storm on the left to the happy harbinger of the rainbow on the right. At the same time, the bucolic pasture in the foreground is juxtaposed against an unnamed city in the background. This contrast fills the image with a heightened emotional charge. Starting in 1875, Inness began to include a strip of grey along the horizon that blurred the convergence of sky and plain. He used that trick here and would continue to use it into the 1880s. The Rainbow belongs to the dramatic series of storm scenes painted by Inness during the late 1870s.
The Rainbow
oil on canvas • 30 x 45 in
-
George Inness