Storm at Sea off the Norwegian Coast, 1837

About the Work

The tumultuous sea hurtles the ship towards the harsh crags. To heighten the drama, the artist has deliberately cast the brightest light on the surf between the rocks and the mighty cliffs on the coast. From a safe distance, the viewer shudders in view of nature’s majestic transcendence over the inconsequentiality of man. Andreas Achenbach was an important German Romanticist landscape painter and a representative of the Düsseldorf school of painting. It was not until 1839 – two years after the execution of this work – that he actually travelled to Norway.