Recall that "Sunset, Summer 1915" was actually a sunrise painted in the spring of 1915 before the biting bugs emerged and a few days after the May 22nd, 1915 volcanic eruption of Lassen Peak in northern California. That Creative Scene Investigation required significant effort but the facts were clear. MacDonald and Harris faced an incredible challenge to locate, time and identify the motivation of these paintings without any guidance from Thomson. My efforts in these blogs are simply to assist further as best as possible and to advance our appreciation of the art of Tom Thomson.
The conclusion that can be made after comparing the colours in the sky is that "Sunset Summer 1915" (small inset image) was observed after May 24th, 1915. "Sunset Sky, Spring 1915" was painted before May 24th and before the full impacts of the sulphate aerosols had reached Canoe Lake. The sunrise sky was still blue. A likely estimate would have Tom observing that sunrise on the morning of Sunday, May 23rd, 1915 but it is impossible, to know for certain.
The meteorological clues that Tom painted above are all that we have. The gravity waves were extensive and regular and perpendicular to the westerly wind blowing at cloud level. The westerly winds would be consistent with the passage of a cold front. Those winds bringing cooler air had not yet broken through the stable inversion over the cold waters of Canoe Lake - the water was calm with no wave action. The gravity wave clouds would be riding the cold frontal surface as included in the following graphic. The more stratiform cloud on the eastern horizon would be the trailing flank of the warm conveyor belt. The patch of blue sky would be the dry slot of the jet stream that was driving the entire weather pattern. The weather pieces all fit together.
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Sunset Sky Spring 1915 Oil on composite wood-pulp board 8 1/2 x 10 1/2 in. (21.6 x 26.7 cm) Tom's Paint Box size. |
Finding the location of this painting benefited from Tom not travelling far from Mowat Lodge in the spring of 1915. Tom was very faithful to the cloud structure and the terrain he saw - including individual trees. The following graphic will explain.
The terrain recorded in two other Thomson paintings from the spring of 1915 revealed several distinctive similarities with the skyline of "Sunset Sky, Spring 1915". Hills and even groups of trees poking into the sky were repeated in the three paintings. Brushstrokes were also similar as Tom tried to represent the lay of the land - the ridges and hills. Subtle colour variations also depicted specific hills. The obvious conclusion was that Thomson was looking in the same direction across the northern basin of Canoe Lake in each of the above paintings. The eastern shore of Canoe Lake was back-lit at sunrise and the title of this painting as "Sunset Sky, Spring 1915" should have been "Sunrise Sky, Spring 1915".
The details of Tom's painting location from just in front of Mowat Lodge are also included below using topographical maps. The terrain of "Sunset Sky, Spring 1915" is compared with "Sunset, Summer 1915" with specific hills and ridges identified both in the paintings and in the terrain maps.
The following comparative graphics will save many words. J.E.H. MacDonald and Lawren Harris reacted as most people would to the orange and red colours in the clouds and dubbed these works as obvious "sunset" paintings in the spring of 1918.
Now let's take a look at the weather situation that Tom observed.
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| The Conveyor Belt Conceptual Model is a great starting point to better understand the weather - but remember that every system is different - otherwise, the forecast would be easy. I based my imagined forecast for Sunday, May 23rd, 1915 (below) on Mowat Lodge being under the cyclonic companion of the dry conveyor belt in the wake of the cold front - and the rapid, anticipated approach of the next warm conveyor belt which Tom might have recorded in "Sunset 1915". |
I could be certain about the weather if I had been standing at Tom's shoulder and watching the clouds drift over the course of a few moments. Here is the weather forecast that I imagined would follow that sunrise:
The winds would increase from the northwest by mid-morning. The overhead altocumulus would become increasingly patchy and dissipate as the cold front moved further to the east. Streets of turbulent stratocumulus would develop parallel to those winds as the sun continued to rise. The temperature would be slow to climb under the cold air advection behind the front as any heating from the sun must compete with the arrival of cooler air.
Waves would develop rapidly over the lake and build over the fetch of Canoe Lake by the time they reached the eastern shore. The waves on the Mowat Lodge shore in the lee of the land would be minimal.
By afternoon the streets of stratocumulus would have spread further apart allowing more sun to reach the ground. It would be a pleasant, bug-free afternoon. The northwest breeze would gradually diminish as the sun lowered on the western horizon. The skies would clear of convective clouds as the sun disappeared below the western horizon and the weather system exited far to the east.Any cirrus on the western horizon during the Sunday sunset would herald the next system that Tom would observe at sunrise on Monday, May 24th. The cloud and sky colours were becoming dramatically more vivid (and no one would know why). I wonder if Tom recorded that particular sunset - see Tom Thomson's "Sunset" 1915). An image from the Creative Scene Investigation of that particular painting is also included below. "Sunset" 1915" was painted from his favourite campsite on Hayhurst Point. The atmospheric ocean west of Canoe Lake should have been jammed-pack full of volcanic aerosols from Lassen Peak on the evening of Sunday, May 23rd, 1915!
If so, Tom would have paddled the short distance to his campsite on Hayhurst Point with a light tailwind in order to capture the colourful sunset and the startling arrival of the sulphate aerosols from Lassen Peak. The radiational inversion would set up quickly under clear skies. Canoe Lake would have become calm and an effective mirror for the volcanic sunset colours. Tom might have paddled back to Mowat Lodge at twilight or spent the night at his camp.
My imagined weather forecast and sequence of events is based solely on "Sunset Sky, Spring 1915", Lassen Peak and the typical progression of mid-latitude weather systems. As you might guess, I have a vivid imagination...
In any event, Sunday supper on the Queen Victoria Holiday weekend would have been memorable - not only because of the "fireworks" in the sky. Annie Fraser, Shannon's wife was well known for her fine meals and baking at Mowat Lodge. (Note: May 24, Queen Victoria's birthday, was declared a holiday by the Legislature of the Province of Canada in 1845. After Confederation, Queen Victoria's birthday was celebrated every year on May 24 unless that date was a Sunday, in which case a proclamation was issued providing for the celebration on May 25.) The Great War was still raging in Europe and patriotic feelings would have been high.
The following graphic explains the potential correlations between three Canoe Lake sky paintings from the spring of 1915. I believe that Thomson accurately captured the approach of the volcanic aerosols from the eruption of Lassen Peak in California which exploded on Saturday, May 22nd. He also chronicled the coming and going of two consecutive mid-latitude synoptic-scale weather systems.
- Number 1 on left "Sunset Sky, Summer 1915";
- Number 2 in the centre, this post "Sunset Sky, Spring 1915";
- Number 3 on right "Sunset, Summer 1915".
Tom did not leave any hints that might confirm that this Creative Scene Investigation (CSI) is correct. The interpretation hinges on the fact that Tom painted pretty much exactly what he witnessed. The science pieces all fit together quite beautifully but of course, we can never quite be certain if this is the truth. Regardless, CSI permits us to view Tom's art and science as though we were gazing over his shoulder and appreciating the beauty and inspiration of nature.
As alluded to above, there could be four sequential paintings recording every sunrise and sunset at Canoe Lake starting on the evening of Saturday, May 22nd, 1915 - the day that the Lassen Peak volcano erupted. I hesitated as I feared that I was exceeding the limits of my credibility in weather prediction even though the events occurred more than a century ago. The potential paintings are included in order with a brief explanation in the following graphic. Please ignore the official names of the artwork which identify them all as sunsets - two of the four were sunrises as already demonstrated.
Tom might have been aware that something very unusual was happening in the atmosphere. This lends some rationale for Tom to diligently observe the increasingly spectacular colours in a series of paintings. Paintings number 1 and 3 in the above series are the only actual sunsets. Painting 3 does fit the progression of the weather although the image is darker and the clouds more red, making it stand out. Its inclusion in the series is very plausible though as the first surge of volcanic aerosols would have just been arriving from California. The sunset colours would have been especially vivid with the western horizon loaded with fresh volcanic debris! The initial concentrations of aerosols can be very high behind the deformation zone of the airflow delivering those particulates. Tom Thomson's "Sunset" 1915 was likely painted at sunset on Sunday, May 23rd from Hayhurst Point.
Dispersion of the volcanic aerosols over the following months would eventually dial down the chroma of the sunrise and sunset skies to something approaching what Tom painted in sunset number 1 in the graphic.
Inscription verso:
- c., estate stamp;
- u.l., in graphite, no filter
- National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (1542)
Provenance;
- Estate of the artist
- National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (1542). Purchased 1918
Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,
Phil Chadwick
PS: Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman - Summary As of Now contains all of the entries to date.
PSS: Should you wish to have Creative Scene Investigation applied to one of Thomson's works that I have not yet included in this Blog, please let me know. It may already be completed but not yet posted. In any event, I will move your request to the top of the list. If you made it this far, thanks for reading!
PSS: If one searches Tom Thomson
Catalogue Raisonné for "sunrise" only one painting shows up. If one searches for "sunset" 25 works are produced. Some of those sunsets are actually sunrises as we have demonstrated. It would have been helpful if Tom had left a few hints.
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