The Icebergs

Frederic Edwin Church 1826–1900

The Icebergs (1861) by Frederic Edwin Church. Its palette is led by warm grey (#83776c, 51%) and pewter (#9c9b94, 19%), with accents of dark reddish brown and dark muted azure teal. Overall the canvas is light, muted and warm.

Color reading

Brown and gray cover nearly nine-tenths of the canvas. Even its most colorful tone, dark muted azure teal #25524F, stays close to gray.

Palette

#83776c MG 174 warm grey 50.9% of canvas
#9c9b94 MG 214 pewter 18.6% of canvas
#5f4535 MG 155 dark reddish brown 9.0% of canvas
#c4c0b6 MG 171 bone 7.7% of canvas
#122021 MG 222 charcoal 7.1% of canvas
#25524f MG 084 dark muted azure teal 6.7% of canvas

Color families

Brown 54%, Gray 31%, Blue 7%, Black 6%, Green 2%

Measurements

Lightness: 0.56
Contrast: 0.51
Vividness: 0.024
Warmth: +0.49
Complexity: 109 cells
Hue range: 0.53
Focus: 0.01

Composition

56% of the visual weight is in the right half, 62% in the lower half. Symmetry 0.17 (how closely its shapes and edges mirror each other). 42% of the canvas is calm space. Half of the detail sits in 29% of the canvas. Measured from the image, not a rule the painter followed.

Details

Date: 1861
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 163.8 × 285.8 cm
Genre: landscape painting
Made in: United States
Collection: Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas

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More by Frederic Edwin Church

Niagara, 1857
Heart of the Andes, 1859