“The Storm”
I’ve been meaning to cover this iconic painting for quite some time. I’m happy to share it today!
“The Storm” is a gorgeous oil on canvas painting by the French academic artist, Pierre-Auguste Cot, from 1880. Cot’s art was known for its beauty, elegance, and idealized forms. He was a rising star, representing the new generation of academic artists at a time when the art world was shifting away into more modern aesthetics.
In this painting, Cot paints a young man and woman running in a storm, arms around each other’s backs. They are holding a golden yellow fabric over their heads to shield them from the rain. Their legs are in sync. In the upper right of the canvas, a lightning bolt is depicted jutting across the sky, adding more drama to the scene. The contrasts between light and dark are stunning and gracefully done. Cot’s signature is seen in the lower left of the canvas.
The young couple are classically dressed. The girl has curly auburn hair. She looks towards the sky at the approaching storm. Her pale skin and white sheer dress radiate light in an otherwise dark painting. Her delicate form is visible below the fabric. The boy has curly dark locks. He looks at the girl, his face cast in shadow. He is shirtless with a fur wrapped around his waist. A shepherd’s horn is hung from his blue belt.
This painting was commissioned by Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, the cousin of one of Cot’s most dedicated patrons, John Wolfe. John owned “Springtime” amongst several other of Cot’s paintings, which Catharine admired. It is sometimes interpreted as a scene from the novel, Paul and Virginie, by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, first published in 1788. The story is about childhood friends who were raised together and fell in love. In the story, the young protagonists get caught in a rainstorm and use the girl’s overdress to shield them from the rain, strikingly similar to the scene painted by Cot.
When this painting was first exhibited in 1880, it was an immediate success. It has since been widely reproduced, as etchings, engravings, lithographs, and sundry other ways. Cot made this during the peak of his career. He was recently awarded the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1874, had a seat on the jury for the prestigious Paris Salon, and was teaching students at the Académie Julian in Paris.
“The Storm” is currently on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in the United States.
For more on Pierre-Auguste Cot, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
