An intense sense of loneliness and melancholy prevails throughout van der Velden’s Mount Rolleston series, and particularly this painting. The artist creates a powerful sense of drama that is accentuated by strong tonal contrasts. Mount Rolleston is silhouetted in front of a bank of heavy cloud through which sunlight can barely penetrate. Van der Velden conveys the raw and seemingly brutal power of nature and we, the viewers, are left in no doubt as to our insignificance before its force. We can sense the weight of the storm clouds as they hang threateningly up the valley and van der Velden successfully creates a landscape that imbues a sense of awe and commands respect.
(Van der Velden: Otira, February 2011)

Purchased, 1965
Oil on canvas
69/144
1893
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Collection tags

clouds, fog, landscapes (representations), melancholy, mountains, natural landscapes, rivers, rock, silhouettes

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