Gourock, Near The Clyde Shipping Docks 

John Atkinson Grimshaw made this painting of Gourock, near the Clyde Shipping Docks, using oil paint on canvas. Grimshaw's choice of oil paint, a traditional medium, allows for the creation of luminous effects, particularly noticeable in the wet cobblestones reflecting the dim gaslights. The dark palette is typical, and quite a contrast to the bright landscapes being painted at the same time by Impressionist painters. In terms of material, the slick surfaces and muted tones powerfully evoke the damp and foggy atmosphere of a port city, the very air thick with smoke from the ships harbored at the docks. This wasn't leisure; this was labor. The painting captures the material conditions of an industrial port, its workers toiling, its commerce relentless. By depicting the eerie beauty of this scene, Grimshaw invites us to consider the social and economic realities that underpin the city's nocturnal existence.