Thread by @washingtonpost

Art critic Philip Kennicott and meteorologist Matthew Cappucci visited the National Gallery of Art in D.C. to analyze how weather is portrayed in famous works of art. wapo.st/2UvBEED

From Hendrick Avercamp’s “A Scene on the Ice,” to Claude-Joseph Verne’s “The Shipwreck,” getting a general sense of where the painting was made offered clues about time of day and other dynamics, including whether a storm is building or passing through. wapo.st/2UvBEED

Weather is more than incidental to art, especially in the past few centuries, as scientists, poets and painters have squabbled over how best to process and make sense of the natural world. wapo.st/2UvBEED

Understanding the weather helps make sense of the artist’s larger intent, which is almost never about just getting it right, but rather, expressing something beyond tangible meteorological conditions.

Explore all of the artwork here:
wapo.st/2UvBEED