Clouds in Art—Stratus, Cumulus, Cirrus, and Many More!

The elusive nature of clouds makes each cloudscape unique. For an average person without any knowledge of cloud variation, it might seem ridiculous how a cloud can impact the atmosphere of a painting. Even though all clouds are made the same—as the poet Wisława Szymborska points out—they certainly do not look the same. Let’s explore how different a landscape may seem depending on the type of clouds gracing the sky.

Contrasting Varieties of Low Altitude Clouds

On the lowest level of the troposphere, we find dark and frightening clouds and light and fluffy puffs. That is where cumulus variations reside. These are the big clouds we all think of when asked what a cloud looks like—no wonder they are so common in art.

When discussing cloud appreciation in art, one must not forget about the Ten Symbols of Longevity. This genre in Korean art celebrates ten motifs symbolizing eternal youth—one of those motifs is clouds. There are many renderings of this theme, and most depict specifically cumulus, or to be more exact, cumulus humilis clouds. Known as “fair weather clouds,” they are perfect for encapsulating the harmony of the ten symbols.

What would Van Gogh’s landscapes be without the swirling sky that enchants the viewer? Wheatfield with Cypresses is one of Van Gogh’s many works focusing on cypresses—yet the trees are not what draws one’s eye. Both here and in his famous Starry Night, the swirls and twirls of the sky captivate the viewer’s attention and make the paintings so unique.

Such a layer of cotton-like puffy clouds is unmistakably a stratocumulus. The pastel blues and whites of this cloud brighten the painting and do not overpower the composition. Though covering the entire sky, it is not a dreary cloud. On the contrary, it is associated with fair, sunny weather.

Nonetheless, not all low-level clouds are associated with nice weather. The lowest of all clouds—stratus—towers over the land with a blanket of thin, featureless gray. It can even sink so low that it comes in contact with the ground, creating what we know as fog. That meteorological phenomenon is a common way to add depth to the painting. It’s used to create an atmospheric perspective where the further away the object is, the less saturated and detailed it becomes.

Such clouds may also add mystery to otherwise dull landscapes. Due to their tranquil look, stratus clouds were a common element of Luminism—an American art movement characterized by an emphasis on light effects.

Gloomy Middle Altitude Clouds

In the middle levels of the troposphere, we find clouds that usually stretch over the entire sky or a big chunk of it. Naturally, the more sky they cover, the more dark and gloomy the landscape beneath them becomes.

Although the subject of Turner’s The Fighting Temeraire is the HMS Temeraire, the ship takes up merely a quarter of the painting. It is the murky altostratus cloud that stretches out over the majority of the canvas. With the featureless character of altostratus, one may think it is rather boring to look at. Yet, the sun setting on the empty side of the composition brings the cloudy sky to life. It is precisely the gloomy cloud that gives this piece a feeling of monumental sadness and, at the same time, appreciation for the ship’s final voyage.

Nimbostratus is a multilevel cloud that forms in the middle level of the troposphere and expands downwards. Despite a similarity to altostratus’ featureless appearance, there is one essential characteristic that makes it easy to distinguish: rain. As one of the two clouds that produce precipitation, it can turn a melancholy scene into one with dynamism.

As seen in Aelbert Cuyp’s seascape, nimbostratus brings a sense of unrest to the painting. The entirety of the upper half is just a dark, featureless layer of clouds. The gloomy nimbostratus takes up most of the artwork. Yet, without it, the painting would not feel the same. The huge ship becomes small in comparison to the relentless sky. Clouds, rain, and stormy seas are all crucial factors that make the boat appear so vulnerable despite its size.

Yet, not all mid-level clouds are so dark and gloomy. Altocumulus is a sheet of little clouds, also referred to as mackerel sky. Hasui Kawase perfectly depicted the soft nature of these light puffs. This Japanese artist mastered the art of portraying atmospheric effects and what comes with them—different cloud formations. At the time, oil painting was considered high art, and shin-hanga prints were a continuation of outdated ukiyo-e prints.

Therefore, when Kawase wanted to learn Japanese painting, he was advised to study Western-style painting instead. Later, he utilized that knowledge to create interesting compositions inspired by European Impressionists. His attention to how light reflects on water, how individual snowflakes look stuck in time, and, most importantly, how different clouds affect the overall mood of the artwork—is what makes Hasui Kawase’s prints so fascinating.

Dreamy Essence of High Altitude Clouds

The higher the cloud gets, the less intense its presence is. These clouds are light and breezy, giving us a feeling of calmness. They are not the usual puffy kind but a soft blanket coating the sky. That dreamlike appearance might be why the Impressionists loved them so much.

The barely visible wispy clouds in Camille Pissarro’s Orchard in Bloom are the cirrus clouds. Although these clouds do not have exactly clear skies, they do appear on mostly sunny days. Certainly, they’re also more interesting to look at than the plain blue background. Their fiber-like nature is best conveyed through delicate brush strokes seamlessly blending with the sky.

High-altitude clouds are generally light and don’t overwhelm the painting but blend well with the land, creating a harmonious composition. Cirrocumulus clouds are useful when a painter wants to make the sky more interesting but doesn’t want to bring much attention to it either. This cloud appears in the form of a patchy white sheet. Claude Monet’s Vétheuil depicts the sky covered in thin patches, so thin they don’t cast any shadow.

In a typical impressionistic fashion, the depiction of light is more important than the shape. Monet didn’t paint each individual cloud but instead focused on the light peaking through the layer of white. He expressively placed brushstrokes almost as if the clouds would change their shape in a second, and he had to quickly capture them as they were at that moment.

Impressionists are not the only ones who appreciated the fairy-tale essence of high-altitude clouds. While a single cirrus cloud gives the feeling of a calm, sunny day, a group of those wispy clouds becomes a cirrostratus, a veil-like blanket of clouds that gives the painting a sense of nostalgia.

German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich adored this type of sky-covering thin cloud, as it fills the scene with dreamlike ambiance. To an extent, his most representative work—Wanderer above the Sea of Fog—owes its popularity to the cloud formation that, combined with the unsettling landscape, evokes the sublime.

Stormy Cumulonimbus

The big, dark, and scary cumulonimbus stretches over all levels of the troposphere. It is responsible for storms, hail, thunder, and lightning. But despite its bad reputation, it can be incredibly beautiful to look at.

Hiroshi Yoshida, known for woodblock prints of mountains, is one of the most famous Shin-hanga printmakers. As a part of the series Twelve Scenes of the Japanese Alps, he captures the Goshiki mountain with a spectacular cloud formation towering above it. In contrast with the enormous cumulonimbus, the initial subject—the mountain—fades into the background. Artworks like these prove that, in some landscapes, the cloud is more fascinating than the land.