Is there anything more mutable than the clouds in the sky? The boundless play of shape, color, and transparency make cloud-gazing an endlessly engaging activity; so much so, in fact, that lying on the ground and staring at the clouds is a generally conjured image for wonder itself. Indeed, Heaven itself is popularly conceptualized as “in the clouds.” Linguistically, the limitless forms that these vaporous, floating islands take suggest wonder or imagination, deep thought, and the unknown. Many expressions flow from the many connotations: “The future is cloudy.” “Our data is ‘in the cloud.’” “Her head is in the clouds.” “A cloud follows him wherever he goes.” “She just floats above it all.”

Art historically, clouds became increasingly important forms with the rise of Romantic painting in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Perhaps no two painters better epitomize this trend than the British artists J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) and John Constable (1776-1837). Working concurrently to express the strong emotions stirred up by dramatic atmospheric effects, Constable and Turner were nevertheless very different in style. (Constable was also heavily inspired by a pioneer of meteorology named Luke Howard who coined the nomenclature of clouds.) In turn, the work of these two artists produced two distinct lineages. From Constable grew the Barbizon School in France with its emphasis on moodiness and the romance of the agrarian life, which lead to the development of Impressionism. Turner’s glazes, ambiguous forms, and luminous “effects” led to ever bolder abstractions and an increased interest in transitory light.

Turner’s principal American acolyte was Thomas Moran (1837-1926). Sullivan Goss is very pleased to be able to announce the exhibition of a spectacular painting by Moran called Sunset from 1922. Featuring a mythical Western landscape being traversed by figures that recall a five-hundred plus year tradition of depicting the Holy Family’s “Flight into Egypt,” Sunset implies a Divine Providence at work in America’s westward expansion. Moran lived in Santa Barbara at the end of his life and likely made this painting here, which makes its return to our city particularly noteworthy.