The Canal – Morning Effect is a painting by an entirely self-taught artist, American Impressionist Richard Gruelle who started as a sign and house painter, then worked as a portraitist before finally settling on landscape painting.
A snapshot of the evolving city of Indianapolis as it appeared in the 1890s, 1894’s The Canal – Morning Effect is considered the artist’s master work. The woman in the foreground walks across a bridge that spans a canal dug in 1836 as part of a project (which was ultimately abandoned) to connect the city to its nearest water sources, the Great Lakes and the Ohio River.
The state capitol building in the background was constructed in 1888, and this painting is one of its earliest appearances in artworks featuring the city.
Richard Gruelle’s The Canal – Morning Effect can be found at the Indianapolis Museum of Art