# Approaching Thunder Storm

**Martin Johnson Heade** (1819–1904)  
1859  
Oil on canvas  
28 x 44in. (71.1 x 111.8cm) Framed: 42 1/2 × 58 3/8 × 5 in. (108 × 148.3 × 12.7 cm)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975.160. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/11050).

## About this work

An inky storm cloud spreads over still, black water, while a fisherman sits on the shore with his dog, watching, and a single white sail glows against the darkness. Martin Johnson Heade painted the scene in 1859, and its eerie calm before the storm, rendered with crisp detail and an almost unnatural clarity, makes it one of the most memorable American landscapes of its era. Painted on the eve of the Civil War, it has often been read as a premonition of the conflict to come, though Heade left no such explanation.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Martin Johnson Heade painted this in 1859, aged 40. It is now at The Met in New York.

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Martin Johnson Heade](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/martin-johnson-heade)

1819–1904

Heade travelled restlessly and worked in many genres, but is best known for three subjects: the salt marshes of New England and New Jersey, with haystacks under changing skies; hummingbirds and orchids, which he studied on journeys to Brazil and Central America; and, in later years, lush still lifes of magnolias and other flowers, painted after he settled in St Augustine, Florida. Approaching Thunder Storm is an early example of his brooding coastal scenes.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- Culture: American
- The artist was 40
- Real size: about 28 × 44 in (71 × 112 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 11 × 14 in, so every print is a reduction.
- Century: 19th century
- Movement: [Realism](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/realism)
- Subjects: Landscapes, Storms, Boats
- Colour: black
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/827.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/827/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/approaching-thunder-storm-met-11050).