Tonalism 101: Capturing Emotion Through Light and Tone

En plein air, translated from French, means “in open air.” This was the commitment Barbizon painters had, to paint out of studios and into the world where life happened.

This painting showcases a perfect scene one might find outdoors. Corot paints a woman resting next to a tree in peaceful stillness in this Barbizon masterpiece.

Emphasis on realism was a major factor of Barbizon paintings. In The Angelus, two peasant workers are in humble prayer in their field as the day’s work comes to an end. The title of the painting is named after the Catholic prayer about the Angel declaring to Mary the immaculate conception of Christ.

Millet captures the spirit and struggle of the common working class and honors them with this depiction as if to say to these people: “Blessed is the fruit of thy womb…”

This mountain landscape in California is depicted with such drama in the expansive verticality of the peaks, the dense forest, shores teeming with life, and the sky above blooming off the canvas gloriously.

The painting displays the desire to capture the natural beauty of the world and is often the painting referenced when displaying the Hudson River School.

As the waves crash against the immovable rocks, we can feel the great energy depicted in the painting. The darkening skies swirl with seagulls, waves are dashed into foaming jets that shoot up the side of the jagged rocks.

Richards places us into a visceral perspective, close enough that we would have felt the salty mist.

This painting of Inness depicts the beginning of a hushed, dewy morning as the sun rises. An unfocused individual begins their day. Inness captures perfectly the mood of morning creeping in.

The golden sun beaming into the shady forest at noon evokes feelings of discovery. The painting is illuminated with a fairy-tale sense of wonder, with the heron sitting like an overgrown idol next to a gnarled tree draped in an undisturbed spider’s web.

One can nearly hear the soft crush of the stormy wind against the bristled waves of wheat. The mood Inness creates is one of a benign worry and coziness as the storm approaches the workers.

This painting evokes the dreary mystery of night setting in. Like an inversion of the first painting depicting a sunrise, the shadows unfocus the remaining world that is barely illuminated in the red sunset. The trunks of trees dim into cold black and we hardly notice the woman walking towards the light. Meanwhile, the world of day becomes estranged by eclipsing into a world of mystery.

This damp New York scene is soaked with the steely blue atmospheric mood of twilight. Daylight recedes into the mist, and looming dark-faced buildings swallow the few pedestrians.

In bright contrast, the twinkling street lamps and glowing lights in the windows are fingerprints of the lives of New York’s lively denizens.

In previous paintings, feelings of anxiety can arise when the sun is setting and light is fading to dark. Here the effect is inverted. Darkness is broken apart by light.

The atmosphere of the painting is created by the muted colors of night but the white houses break the dominant tone. The windows let out gold light, giving a comforting invitation to the viewers, like a harbor light would to a ship on dark seas.

In a different and surprisingly brighter shade to scenes of night, A Puff of Steam is beautiful in its distant monochromatic view of a town illuminated by moonlight. The town is dark but the roofs and waterfront dazzle with detail purely from the soft light. It feels late and the town is asleep.

The mountains that lie silently behind are surpassed in height by the focal point of the painting—a pillowy puff of steam.

Here, we see Paris in a soft evening glow. The scene on the Seine is romantic, there is a haze over Paris as if a linen sheet was over her face. River boats push through the silky water and the cupola of the Institut de France peaks above the horizon. Glittering lights hang in the city windows and crown the bridge. The densely felt mood on the Seine is warm and leisurely.

Thomas Dewing captures the elegance of a simple composition: a woman seated at a beautiful wooden piano. The room she sits in is an abstracted space without any real identifiable features, aside from the faint turquoise shadow that creates a sense of depth.

The atmosphere feels present yet pure, like the breath of the room itself. Our eyes are drawn to the woman, who is the clear focal point, her gaze meeting ours directly.

Thomas Dewing brilliantly uses the painting’s title, The Hermit Thrush, to an invisible, auditory element. The hermit thrush is a small bird with a beautiful song reminiscent of a small flute.

The painting itself is a palette of nature’s lush colors that seem to fade together. They create a mood of calm serenity like a summer evening dream. Two women splash through the cool grass as they search for their unseen songster, who calls out like a little Romeo to his twin Juliets.

What do they recite? A dance? A wedding? Like the little bird from the painting before, The Recitation depicts moments in life that are beautiful and delicate.

I feel that this painting captures the precious frivolity we have for only small moments that seem to exist for a summer, then flitter off to become happy memories. The mellow hues from a sun freshly set support a strong tone of impermanence. We are seen by one woman, possibly bringing this recitation to an end.

The young woman sitting is clearly the focus of our attention. Her bare shoulders are spotlighted against the dark brown tones of the furniture and luxuriant wallpaper. We are immersed in an atmosphere of quiet privacy.

As Dewing fixes our gaze on her, he also exposes us—through the subtle use of a mirror, the young woman returns our gaze, as if Dewing has granted the painting a sense of self-awareness.

When American pioneers traveled by covered wagon, some kept watch at night. A dutiful man, cradling a rifle, rests against one of the wagons.

Using greens as the shades of night, adds an unearthly strangeness to the environment. The oppressive emptiness of the Great Plains is walled out by wagons huddled together. This creates a sense of safety and man’s resilience within nature’s purgatory.

Remington uses a restrained dark palette to evoke the mystery often associated with the Native American life. The scene appears to depict some midnight ritual that feels suspended in time. Our eye follows the smoke from thin flames, leading to the mighty and terrifying vision of an ethereal horse. Vapors shroud its feet, its mane sparks and licks up its black neck, then fans out like ghostly fire. Its eyes blaze wildly, and lightning shoots from its torrid nostrils.

The black stagecoach is rushing towards us from deep within the painting. We will certainly be trampled in the horses’ relentless stride. The dark tones distort the night coach, making it resemble a funeral carriage driven by shadowy coachmen. The tone of the painting is haunting—like a macabre nightmare.

A coldness emanates from this painting. Instead of windy grasslands or hot deserts, we see icy snow that sheets the land like it would a corpse. The horses’ heads stoop, and their legs are knobby. The ride of the two cowboys is interrupted and brought to a halt. One of them dismounts to open the sprawling fence that is cutting across the entirety of their once boundless horizon. Dominated by grays and whites, the men and horses trudge along in the tone of death.

The characteristic atmosphere of winter is that of closeness. The gray sky presses heavily down on the street and buildings like a tree’s limb laden with snow. The air is thick, and we feel its frosty presence crowd the empty street. The light from the windows refracts through the fog, the town becomes a ghostly mirage glowing within the winter night.

A young woman wears a white dress against a white cloth background. What would seem visually redundant is effectively given variety. Ivory shadows cling within the folds of the curtains, the wrist cuff is brighter against the sleeve, and a single white flower held against the dress evokes purity within the celestial whites.

Even non-white colors like her hair, eyes, and skin appear more radiant within the harmony of tones.

The River Thames flows in unity with the sky in blue matrimony. The face of the river is slick with stillness, reflecting the land that glides upon it like a gentle night freighter. A fisherman’s lanky figure is seen looking at his boat, which holds a small warm light. The atmosphere is one of deep stillness.

The painting is composed of horizontal strips in mellow shades of blue and soft silver. The brushstrokes are long and gentle. The careful technique reinforces the calm, meditative mood.

Realism merges with the abstract to build an atmosphere of wonder in Whistler’s Tonalist masterpiece, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket.

The glittering embers from a rocket (or firework) cascade down from its rapture to the darkened earth and sea. Smoke fills the night sky, making a hazy void where smoldering remnants glow dimly as if we were witnessing the creation of a new world out of mute nothing.