The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 8, 2026

A vertically oriented watercolor and gouache painting depicts a landscape of jagged, pointed forms. To the left, a tan embankment slants toward a thin orange stream winding away. Dominating the right, a spindly white birch with sharp black branches stands against dense green and yellow foliage filled with white saw-toothed patterns. In the foreground, repeated yellow and green zigzags create vibrating grass, while stylized trees cluster in the distance.

Sulphur Stream in Woods

1917

Charles Burchfield

(American, 1893–1967)
America
watercolor, gouache, conté crayon, and pencil on paper
Sheet: 50.8 x 45.7 cm (20 x 18 in.)
Bequest of the Thomas H. Horner and Virginia Jackson Horner Trust 2024.50
Catalogue raisonné: Trovato 359
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Charles Burchfield kept journals in which he explained his artworks and the deeply personal symbolism within them.

Description

Charles Burchfield was fascinated by the bright yellow tones of the sulfurous water—colored by sediment—common in mining areas around Salem. He described the stream seen here as “a twisting ribbon of bright orange, coming out from a twisting rail-fence at my feet . . . I looked at it a long time, wishing . . . I could make an attempt of painting [it].” In the drawing, the stream divides areas of barren yellow at left and lush green at right, suggesting the environmental impact of mining on the eastern Ohio landscape, which continues today as fracking expands in the area.
  • 1975–2024
    Tom Horner, Hudson, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2024-
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Charles Burchfield. Exh. Cat. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1956. Mentioned: p. 16, no.23
    Trovato, Joseph S. Charles Burchfield: Catalogue of Paintings in Public and Private Collections. Utica, New York: Museum of Art, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, 1970. Mentioned: p. 66, no. 359
  • Charles Burchfield: The Ohio Landscapes, 1915–1920. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 22, 2018-May 5, 2019).
    Suddenly I Awoke: The Dream Journals of Charles E. Burchfield. Burchfield Penney Art Center at Buffalo State University, Buffalo, NY (April 13–July 29, 2018).
    Charles Burchfield. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (January 11-February 26,1956); Baltimore Museum of Art (March 14-April 22, 1956); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (May 9-June 17, 1956); San Francisco Museum of Art (July 11 - August 19, 1956); Los Angeles County Museum (September 5-October 14, 1956); Phillips Gallery, Washington, DC (November 4 - December 11, 1956); Cleveland Museum of Art (January 3-February 10, 1957)
  • {{cite web|title=Sulphur Stream in Woods|url=false|author=Charles Burchfield|year=1917|access-date=08 July 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2024.50