Valley of Aosta: Snowstorm, Avalanche, and Thunderstorm

J. M. W. Turner

Oil on canvas

Art Institute of Chicago

Painted between 1836 and 1837, this sweeping oil on canvas by Joseph Mallord William Turner depicts the Valle d'Aosta in the Italian Alps engulfed by the simultaneous fury of a snowstorm, an avalanche, and a thunderstorm. Turner employs swirling, energetic brushwork and a charged palette of storm-whipped whites, yellows, and earthy browns to dissolve the distinction between sky, snow, and mountain, immersing the viewer in the Romantic conception of the sublime. Turner, an English Romantic painter born in 1775 and celebrated for his expressive use of colour, light, and atmosphere in both oil and watercolour, was championed by critic John Ruskin and is widely regarded as having elevated landscape painting to a status rivalling history painting. The work is held in the Frederick T. Haskell Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago, where it stands as a prime example of Turner's mature Romantic vision.