Tonalism: Breakdown of the Style and Painting Technique

Tonalism is a painting style and art movement that emerged in the late 19th century in the US and only lasted about four decades between 1880 and 1920. It's easily recognisable by its focus on mood and atmosphere, and its limited and muted colour palette, which imbues the landscapes of this movement with a unique moody and melancholic feel. In contrast to the dramatic contrasts and heroism of earlier art movements like the Hudson River School, Tonalism embraces a softer, more introspective and somewhat magical aesthetic. Its hauntingly ethereal quality galvanised America's art scene and continues to inspire artists today. How exactly has it managed to do it? What makes tonalism so special? As someone for whom Tonalism remains a great inspiration, I wanted to look closer at the painting techniques and style elements that distinguish this art movement.

In the past, I made a video where I created a master study of Thomas Wilmer Dewing’s Tonalist painting “Portrait of a Lady”. He's one of the few portraitists representing this art style, so I invite you to check it out if you are interested in his work:

What Makes Tonalism Special?

The trademark of Tonalism is its focus on mood and atmosphere. Through certain techniques and compositional choices, tonalists were able to evoke feelings of nostalgia, serenity, and introspection. Their paintings often transport viewers to a dreamlike world, suspended in time, where the soft interplay of light and shadow conveys both the beauty and melancholy of fleeting moments.

Let’s look at the core attributes that make this art style so iconic.

Compressed Values and Desaturated Palette

At the heart of Tonalism as an art style lies its use of compressed values. Values are, after all, the backbone of any painting and have a major effect on the way we perceive the world. Tonalists have managed to imbue their paintings with softness, tranquility, and mystery using a compressed range of values. Their paintings rarely feature both white and black in their purity, which ensures that neither the highlights nor the shadows can dominate the composition. Instead, the values work together harmoniously, blending into one another to produce a soft, ethereal effect. In addition, they often used earthy pigments like raw umber, burnt sienna, and muted greens. This technique unifies the paintings in their subtlety, enhancing their atmospheric quality.

The painting below beautifully exemplifies the Tonalist approach to compressed values and desaturated colours. In this painting, the brightest areas of the pale yellow sky are far from pure white, interacting harmoniously with the surrounding muted greens and greys. The darkest shadows also stop well short of pure black. Working together with the desaturated colour palette of earthy greens, ochres, and browns, this carefully controlled value range creates a tranquil harmony that invites the viewer to relax into the scene rather than overwhelming them with dramatic contrasts.

John Francis Murphy, Edge of a Clearing, 1914. (Image source: Artsy)

Harmony of Subtle Colour Tones

Tonalist paintings usually use a variety of very subtle colour tones—greens, blues, greys, and whites—to create a harmonious, tranquil effect. These colours are easy on the eye, and their interplay tends to evoke a sense of calm and stillness. The subdued tones of their works helped tonalists achieve a cohesive visual language that draws viewers into their magical worlds.

Ben Foster, Back from the Sea, c. 1910. (Image source: Artsy)

Soft Edges and "Unseen Air"

Tonalist painters excelled at portraying the intangible—the density of the air, the movement of light through mist, or the fleeting glow of twilight. This quality makes their works feel dreamlike, as if they are fragments of memory or imagination rather than concrete reality. Soft edges play a crucial role in achieving this effect. This "lost-edge technique" of softening details and blending edges allows viewers' eyes to glide effortlessly across the canvas, immersing them in the mood and atmosphere of the piece. It reinforces ambiguity, leaving just enough suggestion to let the viewer fill in the details with their own perception or emotion.

As described in A History of American Tonalism by David A. Cleveland, Tonalists often sought to depict "the unseen air," creating landscapes infused with a palpable density and optical resonance. They used carefully layered glazes to enhance the atmospheric quality of their work. Thin, transparent layers of paint allowed them to build depth and luminosity, mimicking the way light diffuses through mist or filters across a shadowed landscape. These glazes worked in tandem with their muted palette and compressed values, enhancing the ethereal mood and visual harmony.

John Henry Twachtman, Springtime, c. 1884. (Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

Symbolism and Abstraction

One of the defining features of Tonalism is the deliberate and symbolic arrangement of forms within a composition. Unlike the Impressionists, who worked primarily outdoors to capture scenes directly from life, most Tonalist painters completed their works in the controlled environment of the studio. This studio setting allowed them to rely heavily on memory, imagination, and improvisation. It meant that the resulting paintings went beyond mere representation and were imbued with emotion and meaning: trees, hills, and rivers were arranged with the intention to evoke a specific mood. The goal was not to create an exact replication of a location but rather to synthesise elements of the landscape into a poetic image that resonated with viewers on a deep emotional level.

Tonalist Painting Techniques

Tonalist painters employed a range of techniques that helped them craft the ethereal atmosphere of their paintings. Let's look at the techniques that we can identify and how you can apply them to your own work.

Value Compression

The use of compressed values is one of the foundational techniques of Tonalism as we have already noted above. This approach involves narrowing the range between the lightest lights and darkest darks, which creates a harmonious interplay of tones throughout the painting. By avoiding stark contrasts, you can create an atmosphere of tranquility in your work.

How to Apply It:

• Avoid using pure colours straight out of the tube. Desaturate and mute them with raw umber or other earthy pigments.

• Decide on the value range you'll be sticking to before you start painting (e.g. values 3-7). Use a value finder to make sure that you stay within your chosen range.

• Create a value string from white to raw umber or vandyke brown and mix your colours within it.

Value control techniques such as a value string will go a long way towards enhancing the mood and atmosphere of your work.

Glazing

Glazing refers to the application of thin, transparent layers of paint, often diluted with medium. Tonalist painters used this technique extensively to build up depth, achieve subtle transitions, and mimic the soft diffusion of light in nature. Glazing also enhances the atmospheric quality of a painting, helping to create the misty, dreamlike effect so liked by the Tonalists.

How to Apply It:

• Use glazing mediums to dilute your paint and gradually build up your painting with thin, transparent layers.

• Layer lighter tones over darker lower layers to create a luminous effect.

• Allow each layer to dry completely before applying the next to avoid muddying the colours.

Edge Control

Tonalists often blurred the boundaries between objects to enhance the atmosphere and ambiguity. This "lost-edge" technique invites the viewer to focus on the overall mood rather than individual details.

How to Apply It:

• Use a soft brush or blend wet paint to blur hard edges.

• Experiment with layering glazes to create subtle shifts in tone and texture.

Use edge control to enhance the atmospheric quality of your paintings.

Synthetic Composition

Tonalist compositions are characterised by their symbolism and non-narrative nature. Large shapes dominate, and detail is often sacrificed in favour of creating an evocative image.

How to Apply It:

• Focus on larger shapes rather than get lost in the details. Check out my oil painting tips for beginners to learn more about it.

• Avoid overcrowding your composition and leave negative space for breathing room.

• Use thumbnails to plan out your composition before starting the painting.

Conclusion

Tonalism’s dedication to mood and atmosphere truly sets this art movement apart. Although landscapes are the predominant theme in Tonalist paintings, the techniques and principles of this style are versatile and can be adapted to a range of subjects.

There’s much we can learn from Tonalist painters to bring a sense of tranquillity and mystery into our own work. Try experimenting with compressed values, soft transitions, and muted tones, and see where the process takes you.