A Coming Storm in the Adirondacks is one of the first major statements in Watson’s lifelong commitment to portraying nature’s power and drama. During an extended tour of New York State, Watson had painted various small landscapes that carried traces of the work of the Hudson River School of landscape painters. The painting contains a wealth of detail—steep cliffs, angry clouds, blasted trees, and dozens of rocks—that he controls by subordinating them to an omnipresent, brooding atmosphere.