The Rainbow’s Source

The rough texture of paint on this canvas conveys the movement and spray of water as it surges through trees and rocks. The vaporous atmosphere could, at any minute, reveal the rainbow referred to in the painting’s title. At close view the scene becomes nearly abstract, and merges the experience of the rough surface with refined forms, the transient moisture with permanent paint, and the ethereal with the physical.

John Twachtman purchased his home in Greenwich, Connecticut, because the property included this cascade on Horseneck Brook. He returned to the falls often, painting them from multiple angles and in many types of weather.