Best known for his winter landscape paintings, John Henry Twachtman developed a highly personal approach to impressionism. Characteristic of his mature output, this work is one of numerous portrayals of a brook that meandered through the artist’s property in rural Connecticut. The water zigzags into the distance, where low snow-covered hills appear almost indistinguishable from the opaque sky. Tranquil and inanimate, the frozen landscape is rendered in a reduced palette of whites and frosty blues. During his eleven years in Connecticut, Twachtman obsessively painted scenes around his property. The serial nature of his practice and his blurred, rough brushwork demonstrate his adaptation of impressionist techniques, while the high horizon and flattened forms echo the aesthetics of Japanese prints. Twachtman developed a mode of painting rooted in his attachment to his home and immediate surroundings.

Learn more about this painting on the Terra Foundation website.