George Inness sought to make his paintings convey the profound spiritual meaning he felt the landscape around him possessed. As one of the "Hudson River School" group of painters producing work in the mid to late 1800s, he consistently painted the waterfalls, storm clouds, autumn trees and small streams of the northeastern United States in such a way that as one critic put it, "you can practically smell the light". But the primary importance of these works, may be to remind us of the need to cherish and preserve the natural environment around us.
