Storm on the Sea of Galilee

The Storm in the sea of Galilee is a painting done as an excerpt from the Bible where Jesus and His disciples were caught up in a storm while out in the sea on their boat.

The painting was done by Rembrandt Van Rijn in the 1632. In the Bible, the disciples were in a state of frenzy and panic as they looked death in the eye, whilst their master Jesus peacefully slept. His disciples screamed at the raging the sea waves, not to mention the wild motion of the boat as a result of the storm.

Rembrandt beautifully and artistically captures this as an unfolding pictorial drama from the Bible on canvas. The painting is a mass of bold and dark strokes that is depicting darkness and also metaphorically the impending doom that loomed over the people in the boat.

The darkness surrounding the life forms on the boat and the contrast in light colors of the sea waves and a small fraction of the sky is optically captivating and immediately captures the viewer's attention.

The boat is painted in a semi capsized state, and one can almost feel the desperation of the disciples as some are depicted trying to stir the oars and harness the sail cloth in a desperate attempt to keep the boat from the seemingly inevitable.

Rembrandt managed to perfectly capture the chaos surrounding this Bible excerpt. The painting is still, but the scene is very much alive, you could just walk into the turmoil of 'the storm at the sea of Galilee'.

Rembrandt Van Rijn was a Dutch artist of the 17th century and one of the most influential painters in what was termed the 'Golden age'. He was born and died in Amsterdam (1606-1669).

Rembrandt's work depicts a versatile range of style and subject matter from portraits, self-portraits, to landscapes, genre scenes, historical scenes, and biblical themes.

Rembrandt's most popular and creative works are those of illustrations of scenes from the Bible and also self portraits. He was considered one of the greatest visual artists in the history of art and especially Dutch history.

His art is renowned world over and is preserved in world famous museums. Sadly, this specific piece 'the storm on the sea of Galilee', however, was among the paintings that went missing from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in the year 1990.