While browsing our online collection for a project, I entered the word “cloud” into the search field. I was surprised by how many works of art in our collection had cloud connections, either as part of the work’s title or featured in the work itself. As I was looking through the images, I kept hearing Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now playing in my head. Go ahead and give it a listen as you look at just a few of the clouds in our collection.

Odilon Redon, “The Port of Morgat,” 1882, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, The Wendy and Emery Reves Collection, 1985.R.53

Sigmar Polke, “Clouds,” 1989, mixed media on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, DMA/amfAR Benefit Auction Fund and the Contemporary Art Fund: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Vernon E. Faulconer, Mr. and Mrs. Bryant M. Hanley, Jr., Marguerite and Robert K. Hoffman, Cindy and Howard Rachofsky, Deedie and Rusty Rose, Gayle and Paul Stoffel, and two anonymous donors, 2000.388, © Estate of Sigmar Polke/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, Germany

Gerhard Richter, “Clouds,” 1969, offset lithograph, white card, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Museum of Art League Fund, Roberta Coke Camp Fund, General Acquisitions Fund, DMA/amfAR Benefit Auction Fund, and the Contemporary Art Fund: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Vernon E. Faulconer, Mr. and Mrs. Bryant M. Hanley, Jr., Marguerite and Robert K. Hoffman, Howard E. Rachofsky, Deedie and Rusty Rose, Gayle and Paul Stoffel, and two anonymous donors, 1999.217, © Gerhard Richter, Cologne, Germany

Eugène–Louis Boudin, “The Quay at Antwerp,” 1874, oil on panel, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the Meadows Foundation, Incorporated, 1981.102

Lyonel Feininger, “Mansion at the Beach,” 1921, woodcut, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Stuart Gordon Johnson by exchange; General Acquisitions Fund; and The Patsy Lacy Griffith Collection, gift of Patsy Lacy Griffith by exchange, 2003.42.1, © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

James Surls, “Through the Point Cloud,” 1984, graphite on paper, Dallas Museum of Art, Foundation for the Arts Collection, anonymous gift, 1991.125.FA, © James Surls

Gerhard Richter, “Cloud,” 1971, offset lithograph, white card, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Museum of Art League Fund, Roberta Coke Camp Fund, General Acquisitions Fund, DMA/amfAR Benefit Auction Fund, and the Contemporary Art Fund: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Vernon E. Faulconer, Mr. and Mrs. Bryant M. Hanley, Jr., Marguerite and Robert K. Hoffman, Howard E. Rachofsky, Deedie and Rusty Rose, Gayle and Paul Stoffel, and two anonymous donors, 1999.230, © Gerhard Richter, Cologne, Germany
Stacey Lizotte is Head of Adult Programming and Multimedia Services at the DMA.
What fun to see clouds on canvas and not just in the sky!
Too many have never been seen in museum.