Even as a boy, T.C. Steele’s knew he wanted to be an artist. Therefore, he painted and created artwork daily from an early age. So when he was unable to do so, he became depressed and could not enjoy himself.
T. C. Steele Painting, from Indiana Historical Society Digital Images http://images.indianahistory.org
In the summer of 1918, Steele fell ill with rheumatic fever and sustained pain to his arm, which inhibited him from painting that fall. He had never been prevented, as an adult, from painting and so this put a lot of stress on him. This especially bothered him as he saw summer turn to fall and ruminated in the changing leaves and autumn color. He was then swept him into a deep depression and made him feel like he was never going to paint again.
That summer, his wife Selma, in an act to help Steele, reopened one of his studios and redecorated it. She also had a gathering for friends and colleagues, in which approximately 500 people came to admire some of Steele’s work and cheer him up. It was in that following summer that this painting , Afternoon Sunset, was conceived, and it conveys that calm, relaxed state of Steele returning to his true passion of landscape painting.
T. C. and Selma Steele in Brown County
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