The storm at Cape Aya

Towering cliffs and churning seas dominate this dramatic scene by Ivan Aivazovsky, the Russian painter who built his entire career around the ocean. Here a storm crashes against Cape Aya on the Crimean coast, and you can almost feel the cold spray and hear the roar of the waves. Look closely and you will spot tiny human figures: a few people clinging to wreckage in the foaming water below, and others perched high on the rocky ledge, helpless to do much but watch. Their small size against the vast sky and sea drives home just how powerless we are against nature's fury.

Aivazovsky was one of the most famous marine painters of the 19th century, and he had a remarkable gift for capturing light and water from memory rather than painting outdoors. He claimed the movement of the sea was impossible to copy directly, so he studied it endlessly and then worked quickly in his studio. This painting shows off the misty, almost ghostly atmosphere he loved, with pale greens and grays blending sea and sky until it is hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. It is a quieter, moodier work than some of his brighter seascapes, leaning into a sense of danger and gloom that suits the wild Crimean coast he knew so well.