Ships in stormy weather

Ships in Stormy Weather from around 1670 at the Gemaldegalerie Berlin shows Ruisdael engaging with marine painting, a genre dominated by specialists like the van de Veldes. His interpretation emphasizes the atmospheric drama of the storm over the technical details of the ships. Ruisdael's marine works use sweeping brushwork for waves and broken, rapid strokes for storm clouds. The Berlin Gemaldegalerie's holdings confirm that major German collections valued his versatility across landscape ge...

The dark, turbulent sky dominates the composition, with the struggling vessels providing dramatic scale. Ruisdael's atmospheric handling creates a convincing sense of maritime peril.