The Red Bridge

Julian Alden Weir

1895 · Oil on canvas · The American Wing

After seeing the 1877 French Impressionist exhibition in Paris, Weir grumbled that it was “worse than the Chamber of Horrors.” Much later, working in the Connecticut countryside under the influence of friends such as Theodore Robinson and inspired by Japanese woodblock prints, he converted to Impressionism. In this canvas, he captured the severe industrial form of a new iron truss bridge, covered with red priming paint, over the Shetucket River in Windham. The fundamentally solid forms and restrained veneer of broken brushwork epitomize Weir’s conservative brand of Impressionism.

Artist

Julian Alden Weir

Date

1895

Medium

Oil on canvas

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of Mrs. John A. Rutherfurd, 1914