Art Institute of Chicago

Mist Rising at Sunset in the Catskills

Sanford Robinson Gifford (American, 1823–1880)

Date

c. 1861

Medium

Oil on canvas

Culture

United States

Department

Arts of the Americas

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Sanford Robinson Gifford was a key figure of the Hudson River School, the group of landscape painters that flourished in the New York region in the mid-19th century. The Catskill Mountains were an important subject for Gifford, who made drawings and oil sketches like this one during excursions in the area; such works often served as source material for larger compositions produced later in his studio. Mist Rising at Sunset in the Catskills is a swift, freely rendered depiction of evanescent mist above a pond and brilliantly illuminated clouds amid a low sun. Two men attending a boat on the shore give the mountainous scene a sense of grandeur despite the painting’s small dimensions.

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