Thunderstorm over the sea, 1847
„We have, for example, Melby[e], Dane pur sang, who is very good and almost important,“ it says passingly in the novel Der Stechlin (1897/98) by the German writer Theodor Fontane (1819-1898). Fontane fails to recognise the actual importance of Melbye, whose patrons and collectors include King Christian VIII, King Frederik VII, Emperor Napoleon III, Sultan Abdülmecid I, King Charles XV and Emperor Wilhelm II. The Dane‘s works enjoy great recognition in the highest international circles – not to mention the academic awards and hislively exhibition activity.
A sailing ship was dismasted in a storm and is drifting on the sea, unable to manoeuvre. Another ship can be seen in the distance; the symbol of hope for rescue. Thunderstorm over the sea is created at the time when Melbye is working on the innovative images of the empty, vast sea. Man‘s existence on the sea is increasingly rendered void. According to art historian Regine Gerhardt (1969-2018), Melbye „as an artist interested in natural science and natural philosophy […] develops the seascape into a mirror of the soul, longings and ambitions of his time in an examination of the forces of nature.“ This painting, too, bears echoes of the „moving surface of the sea […] in its uniformity, impenetrability and spatial infinity“, which becomes the viewer‘s „uncertainty […] and the projection surface of existential reflection.“