Updated October 2026 · ranked by our popularity score (searches, visits and orders for each work) · 470 works by George Inness in our catalogue
In short
Sunrise (1887) is the George Inness painting that draws the most eyes; the original belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. After it, the eye goes to The Valley of the Shadow of Death (1867) and Two Sisters in the Garden (1882). Among the 470 works of George Inness in our catalog, these 100 are the most famous, each a unique original presented with its year, its museum and the reason it endures.
The world awakens in a soft, buttery glow as the sun begins its ascent over a quiet rural meadow. A luminous, yellow sky radiates warmth, casting a gentle radiance across the sprawling field. Everything feels suspended in a thick, gentle haze that blurs the edges of reality. Two prominent trees frame the scene, their forms softened by the morning mist. One stands slender and central, while a larger, leafier tree…
The Valley of the Shadow of Death is an oil on canvas work by the American artist George Inness. Created in 1867, this piece represents a significant moment in the artist's development, moving toward a more spiritualized landscape. It is an American work that captures a sense of profound solitude within a rugged, mountainous terrain.
The air feels heavy with the scent of damp earth and blooming flora as two young women stand amidst a lush, green sanctuary. They are positioned slightly to the left, framed by the slender, reaching branches of trees that seem to lean in to witness their silent communion. A soft, diffused light filters through an overcast sky, casting gentle shadows that blur the edges of their forms. Their dresses flow…
The Monk is a landscape painting by George Inness. He created this oil on canvas in 1873 while working in Italy. A solitary figure occupies the center of the view, framed by the quietude of the natural world. The work carries the accession number 1956.6.
In this 1880 landscape, the atmosphere of a setting sun settles heavily over a tranquil scene. A man stands before a tree, his presence anchored near a nearby lake, while the sky begins to surrender its warmth to the approaching dusk. The composition is populated by several figures scattered throughout the landscape, some positioned in the foreground and others receding into the distance, creating a sense of lived-in space. Two…
The sun descends behind a heavy curtain of clouds, casting a bruised and golden light across the horizon. In the foreground, the silhouettes of trees reach upward, their dark forms anchoring the composition against the shifting sky. Two figures move through this landscape, small and quiet against the vastness of the atmosphere. Their presence provides a sense of scale, turning the scene into a lived moment rather than a mere…
George Inness produced Harvest Moon in 1891. This oil on canvas work reflects the artist's mature period, characterized by a departure from the rigid details of his earlier training toward a more atmospheric and expressive handling of the landscape.
The landscape unfolds in Spirit of Autumn, a work painted by George Inness in 1891. The scene breathes with the quiet energy of a changing season, capturing a moment where the air feels heavy with the scent of fallen leaves and damp earth. This piece emerges from the hands of an artist who spent his life observing the subtle shifts of the natural world. Born in Newburgh, United States, Inness…
In this 1893 oil painting, a woman occupies the foreground, her body turned toward the right as she gazes at something outside the frame. She is positioned within a landscape that features a farmhouse situated in the background, partially obscured by a cluster of trees. The scene is populated by several sheep, some of which are clustered near the woman while others are scattered further into the distance. A single…
Early Moonrise, Florida (also known as Early Morning, Florida) is an oil on canvas created by George Inness in 1908. The work belongs to the Tonalism style, a movement characterized by the artist's focus on atmosphere and the spiritual essence of the natural world.
Royal Beech in New Forest, Lyndhurst1887 · Brooklyn Museum
12
The Home of the Heron1893 · Art Institute of Chicago
13
The Goat Herder1853
14
Delaware Water Gap1857
15
George Inness (1825-1894)1872 · New York Historical Society
16
The Perugian Valley1873
17
Passing Clouds (also known as Passing Shower)1876
18
Gossip1884 · Spencer Museum of Art
19
An Old Roadway1880 · Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
20
Edge of the Woods1890
21
In a Shady Nook1893
22
Crossing the Ford1848 · Art Institute of Chicago
23
Near Perugia, Italy1879 · Philadelphia Museum of Art
24
A Marine1874 · Art Institute of Chicago
25
In the Adirondacks1862 · Yale University Art Gallery
26
Morning1878 · Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
27
Sunset in Georgia1890
28
Landscape with Figure1878 · Museum of Fine Arts
29
Summer in the Catskills1867 · Art Institute of Chicago
30
Hudson River Valley1867 · Detroit Institute of Arts
31
Castel Gandolfo1874 · Portland Art Museum
32
In the Berkshires1848 · Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
33
The Moon at Night1890 · Art Institute of Chicago
34
Moonrise1891 · Art Institute of Chicago
35
The Mill Pond1889 · Art Institute of Chicago
36
Summer Days1857 · Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
37
a passing shower
38
End of Day Montclair
39
November Montclair1893
40
Sunlit Valley1893 · Art Institute of Chicago
41
Afterglow1893 · Art Institute of Chicago
42
The Lonely Pine1893 · Detroit Institute of Arts
43
Summer Days, Cattle Drinking Late Summer, Early Autumn1857 · Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
44
Lake Albano, Sunset1874 · National Gallery of Art
45
Christmas Eve (also known as Winter Moonlight)1866
46
The Old Mill1849 · Art Institute of Chicago
47
Autumn Meadows1869 · Metropolitan Museum of Art
48
Harvest, Montclair, New Jersey1884 · Art Institute of Chicago
49
Afterglow
50
Threatening1891 · Art Institute of Chicago
51
A Short Cut, Watchung Station, N.J.1883 · Philadelphia Museum of Art
52
Evening Landscape1863
53
Woodland Vista1846 · Museum of Fine Arts
54
Landscape1842 · El Paso Museum of Art
55
Afternoon1846 · New Britain Museum of American Art
56
Hils and Dales1846
57
Landscape1846
58
In the White Mountains, Summer1859
59
Moonlight, Tarpon Springs1892 · The Phillips Collection
60
The Wood Chopper1849 · Cleveland Museum of Art
61
A Silver Morning1884 · Art Institute of Chicago
62
View in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Clearing Off after a September Storm1849 · Buffalo Bill Center of The West
63
Page from a Sketch Book, (painting)1850
64
a bit of the roman aqueduct1852
65
The Lackaanna Valley1855 · National Gallery of Art
66
Summer Morning1850
67
Early Morning, Tarpon Springs1892 · Art Institute of Chicago
68
Durham, Connecticut1858 · Cleveland Museum of Art
69
The Road to the Farm1862 · Museum of Fine Arts
70
Villa Borghese, Rome1857 · Museum of Fine Arts
71
Sunset Landscape, Medfield1861 · Museum of Fine Arts
72
Twilight1860 · Williams College Museum of Art
73
Roman Campagna1858 · New Britain Museum of American Art
74
On the Delaware River1861 · Brooklyn Museum
75
Lake Nemi1857 · Yale University Art Gallery
76
Clearing Up1860
77
A View Near Medfield1861 · Harvard Art Museums
78
Pastoral Scene1857
79
scene on the hudson1861
80
Landscape with Sheep1858
81
Old Elm at Medfield1860
82
Spring1860
83
Oaks Near Medfield1863
84
Dawn1860
85
Landscape with Sheep1858
86
Sunset1860
87
Winter Evening, Montclair1860
88
Lake Nemi1857 · Yale University Art Gallery
89
Marine off Big Rock1857
90
Landscape1860
91
Phantom Sea1856
92
Delaware Valley1860 · Brigham Young University Museum of Art
93
The Deleware Water Gap1861
94
Coast Scene1857
95
Landscape1860 · National Academy of Design
96
The Huntsman1859
97
Medway, Massachusetts1869 · Saint Louis Art Museum
98
Tivoli, Italy1871 · Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art
99
Harvest Time1864 · Cleveland Museum of Art
100
In the Woods1866 · Cleveland Museum of Art
The four subjects that come back most often in these originals, each with its finest example.
The 8 museums that hold the most of the paintings on this page.
| Museum | City | Works by George Inness | Paintings from this list |
|---|---|---|---|
 Art Institute of Chicago |
Chicago | 25 | Two Sisters in the Garden, The Home of the Heron, Crossing the Ford |
 Museum of Fine Arts |
Boston | 15 | Woodland Vista, The Road to the Farm, Villa Borghese, Rome |
 Cleveland Museum of Art |
Cleveland | 12 | The Wood Chopper, Durham, Connecticut, Harvest Time |
 Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum |
Madrid | 5 | Morning, In the Berkshires, Summer Days |
 Metropolitan Museum of Art |
New York | 8 | Sunrise, Autumn Meadows |
 Philadelphia Museum of Art |
Philadelphia | 8 | Near Perugia, Italy, A Short Cut, Watchung Station, N.J. |
 Brooklyn Museum |
Brooklyn | 7 | Royal Beech in New Forest, Lyndhurst, On the Delaware River |
 Yale University Art Gallery |
New Haven | 4 | In the Adirondacks, Lake Nemi |
Pick a decade to see the original that defines it.
The afternoon sun filters through a soft, hazy atmosphere, casting a gentle light over a shallow riverbed. Here, the world moves at the pace of a slow current. A rider on horseback leads the way, navigating the rippling water alongside cattle and sheep. There is a profound sense of rhythm in this movement, a steady, purposeful crossing that defines the essence of rural life. Large, towering trees frame the scene…
In The Goat Herder by George Inness, a wide composition establishes a sense of vastness and depth across a rural landscape. A winding path leads the eye into the distance, guiding the viewer toward a small group of cows grazing on a hillside. Near the edge of a cliff, a solitary figure provides a human presence against the scale of the terrain. The landscape is rendered in muted earth tones,…
The Valley of the Shadow of Death is an oil on canvas work by the American artist George Inness. Created in 1867, this piece represents a significant moment in the artist's development, moving toward a more spiritualized landscape. It is an American work that captures a sense of profound solitude within a rugged, mountainous terrain.
The Monk is a landscape painting by George Inness. He created this oil on canvas in 1873 while working in Italy. A solitary figure occupies the center of the view, framed by the quietude of the natural world. The work carries the accession number 1956.6.
The world awakens in a soft, buttery glow as the sun begins its ascent over a quiet rural meadow. A luminous, yellow sky radiates warmth, casting a gentle radiance across the sprawling field. Everything feels suspended in a thick, gentle haze that blurs the edges of reality. Two prominent trees frame the scene, their forms softened by the morning mist. One stands slender and central, while a larger, leafier tree…
George Inness produced Harvest Moon in 1891. This oil on canvas work reflects the artist's mature period, characterized by a departure from the rigid details of his earlier training toward a more atmospheric and expressive handling of the landscape.
Sunrise (1887), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The Valley of the Shadow of Death (1867) and Two Sisters in the Garden (1882) come next.
62 years old: Sunrise dates from 1887, and George Inness was born in 1825.
Sunrise, The Valley of the Shadow of Death, Two Sisters in the Garden, The Monk, Slow Fading Day, Evening Glow, Harvest Moon, Spirit of Autumn, the old farm, montclair and Early Moonrise, Florida (also known as Early Morning, Florida). The ranking above gives each one's year and museum.
Our catalog holds 470 works by George Inness, dated from 1842 to 1893.
Mostly in Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago), Museum of Fine Arts (Boston) and Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland). The museum table above lists them all.
In 1860s: 27 of the 100 works on this page were made then, The Valley of the Shadow of Death among them.
On this page, the earliest is Landscape (1842) and the latest the old farm, montclair (1893).
Landscape (28), Sky (23) and Trees (19), across the 100 works on this page.
Oil On Canvas, for 39 of the 100 works on this page.
Tonalism and American impressionism, judging by the originals on this page.
Two Sisters in the Garden, The Home of the Heron and Crossing the Ford: the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago holds 15 of the works on this page.
George Inness stands as a pivotal figure in American Impressionism, a movement that sought to capture fleeting moments of beauty and emotion through luminous color palettes and loose brushstrokes. Born in Newburgh, New York, Inness developed an artistic vision that prioritized introspection and spiritual contemplation, reflecting a profound engagement with philosophical ideas. Unlike the grand narratives championed by the Hudson River School, his landscapes were imbued with a palpable serenity, portraying rural scenes and animal life with a remarkable sensitivity to light and atmosphere. His dedication to capturing the essence of the natural world resulted in works that transcend mere representation, offering instead a window into a more meditative reality.
His formative years were deeply marked by exposure to Transcendentalist thinkers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Their emphasis on intuition and the spiritual connection with the natural world profoundly shaped his artistic sensibilities. While he pursued formal training at Yale University, much of his true education was self-directed. During the mid-1850s, a crucial period for absorbing Impressionistic techniques, Inness traveled to Paris. There, he immersed himself in the burgeoning movements of the era, studying under masters like Gustave Courbet and Jean-François Millet. These encounters solidified his commitment to capturing immediate visual sensations rather than meticulously recreating reality.
In Paris, Inness began to experiment with plein air painting, working outdoors directly from nature to develop a distinctive style characterized by subtle gradations of color and textured brushwork. This period was essential in his transition toward a more atmospheric approach to landscape. He moved away from the rigid details of his early influences, seeking instead to capture the "power of motive" and a sense of grandeur that avoided being belittled by trifling detail. His later works became increasingly influenced by the theology of Emanuel Swedenborg, which introduced a deeper layer of spiritualism into his mature compositions.
The breadth of his artistic development can be seen through several key elements of his technique:
Throughout a prolific career spanning more than forty years and encompassing over 1,000 paintings, Inness’s oeuvre remains a cornerstone of American art history. His ability to blend the influences of the Barbizon school with an uniquely American sensibility allowed him to become a leading artist-philosopher of his generation. Iconic works such as The Dark Side of Twilight and Winter Landscape continue to be celebrated for their masterful depiction of the ephemeral qualities of nature. By focusing on the internal, spiritual response to the landscape, George Inness left an enduring legacy that continues to inspire artists who strive for expressive depth and emotional resonance in their work.
