Charles Burchfield: Elemental at the Whitney Museum of American Art

From October 22, the Whitney Museum of American Art opens Charles Burchfield: Elemental, a compact exhibition of watercolors by the American painter Charles Burchfield (1893–1967). It runs into spring 2027. The show is drawn entirely from the Whitney's own collection and consists of ten works made between 1916 and 1960.

For more than fifty years, Burchfield tried to capture what he called the "tremendous force of nature." His pictures begin in close observation of the landscape, then shift toward visionary scenes charged with emotion, atmosphere, and spiritual intensity. Flowering meadows, turbulent skies, and changing seasons become psychological, even transcendent compositions.

Works on view include Cricket Chorus in the Arbor (1917), Cold September Rain (1957), and An April Mood (1946–55). The image used to introduce the show, Overhanging Cloud in July (1947–59), is a watercolor on paper mounted on board, measuring 39 7/8 by 36 inches (101.3 by 91.4 cm). Dark storm clouds release bright vertical shafts of sunlight over rolling hills and swaying grass. The Whitney acquired it in 1960.

This year marks seventy years since the Whitney organized Burchfield's landmark retrospective in 1956. Because watercolors are sensitive to light, opportunities to see such works together are limited, and the exhibition uses this one to reconsider the lasting resonance of his meditations on the elemental forces that shape the world.

The show belongs to an ongoing initiative to present rarely seen works from the museum's collection, following earlier presentations devoted to Wanda Gág, Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, Claes Oldenburg, and Andy Warhol. It is organized by Caroline Webb, Curatorial Assistant.

The museum is at 99 Gansevoort Street in the West Village. It is currently open from 10:30 am to 10 pm, and advance tickets are recommended.