Niagara

George Inness completed this view of Niagara Falls in 1889, one of nine times he depicted the famous waterfall in oil and watercolor. The image is thick with atmospheric effect as waters cascade down the American Falls. The viewer stands on an heightened position on the American bank, looking through scumbled green scrub toward the mist-shrouded cascade.

Curiously, the painting includes a smokestack from a paper mill on Bath Island that had been destroyed in 1882, seven years before this painting. Its inclusion suggests Inness worked from memory or earlier studies rather than direct observation. The Tonalist style emphasizes atmospheric effects over naturalistic detail.

This work hangs at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC, a gift of collector William T. Evans in 1909. Inness first visited Niagara in 1881 and remained fascinated by the challenge of capturing water, mist, and light. His body of work comprises over 1,150 paintings, watercolors, and sketches.