The Storm

Georges Michel, often called the "Ruisdael of Montmartre," painted this stormy landscape between 1814 and 1830. Working almost exclusively in the environs of Paris, Michel was a precursor to the Barbizon school who drew deep inspiration from seventeenth-century Dutch landscape painters, particularly Jacob van Ruisdael. His dramatic skyscapes and windswept plains around Montmartre anticipated the plein-air landscape painting that would transform French art later in the century.

Michel's oil-on-panel technique emphasizes the dramatic sky, which dominates the composition in the Dutch tradition. His vigorous, textured brushwork in the clouds and bold tonal contrasts between light and shadow create a powerful sense of atmospheric turbulence.