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Atmosphere

July — August 2026 7 Works Curated by Stephen Paul La Rocca

Fog on a French river. Twilight over an English harbor. Desert dust turning an Egyptian town to gold. A molten sun dissolving the landscape. Humidity so thick it's as if the artist painted with it. In every landscape the atmosphere sits between the painter and the subject. The artist always has a choice to embrace the atmosphere, or fight through it.

All works are in the public domain and are presented courtesy of the open access programs of the collections listed below.

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James McNeill Whistler

American, 1834-1903

Nocturne: Blue and Gold—Southampton Water , 1872

Oil on canvas

20 1/16 × 30 3/16 in (51 × 76.7 cm)

The Art Institute of Chicago

Stickney Fund, 1900.52

02 / 07

Claude Monet

French, 1840–1926

Charing Cross Bridge, London, 1901

Oil on canvas

25 5/8 × 36 5/16 in (65 × 92.2 cm)

The Art Institute of Chicago

Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection, 1933.1150

03 / 07

John Henry Twachtman

American, 1853–1902

Icebound, 1889

Oil on canvas

25 5/16 × 30 3/16 in (64.2 × 76.6 cm)

The Art Institute of Chicago

Friends of American Art Collection , 1917.200

04 / 07

Thomas Moran

American, 1837-1926

The Grotto Geyser; Firehole Basin, 1872

Watercolor on paper

9 1/8 × 13 7/16 in (23.2 × 34.2 cm)

Gilcrease Museum Online Collections

Gilcrease, 02.1359

05 / 07

Joseph Mallord William Turner

British, 1775-1851

The Lake of Zug, 1843

Watercolor and bodycolor over graphite

11 3/4 × 18 3/8 in (29.8 × 46.6 cm)

The Met Collection

Marquand Fund, 2026.05

06 / 07

Sanford Robinson Gifford

American, 1823 - 1880

Siout, Egypt, 1874

Oil on canvas

21 × 40 in (53.3 x 101.6 cm)

National Gallery of Art

New Century Fund, Gift of Joan and David Maxwell, 1999.7.1

07 / 07

George Inness

American, 1825–1894

Landscape, Sunset, 1887-1889

Oil on canvas

22 3/8 × 36 1/8 in (56.3 × 91.8 cm)

The Art Institute of Chicago

Edward B. Butler Collection, 1911.35

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