Rainy Season in the Tropics
By Frederic Edwin Church, 1866
Two glowing rainbows arch across a misty mountain landscape in this grand vision of the South American tropics. Frederic Edwin Church painted "Rainy Season in the Tropics" in 1866, and it shows off everything he loved about the natural world. Look closely and you will spot tiny travelers on a path in the lower right, dwarfed by towering peaks, a snow-capped volcano in the distance, and waterfalls tumbling through the haze. Church traveled through Ecuador and Colombia, filling sketchbooks with the plants, light, and weather he saw, then used those studies to build dramatic scenes back in his studio.
Church belonged to the Hudson River School, a group of American painters known for treating nature with a sense of awe and wonder. This painting carries an extra layer of meaning too. He made it not long after the American Civil War, and many people read the rainbow as a symbol of hope and peace after a storm. There is also a personal note hidden in the joy of it, since Church had recently lost two young children to illness. The bright arc breaking through the rain feels like a quiet promise that brighter days return after even the hardest times.
