Maine Coast

Winslow Homer

1896 · Oil on canvas · The American Wing

In 1895, on the eve of his fifty-ninth birthday, Homer wrote to his brother Charles: "The life that I have chosen gives me my full hours of enjoyment for the balance of my life. The sun will not rise, or set, without my notice, and thanks." During his final decades, the artist honed the essential themes of his art, steadily and insistently focusing on nature and mortality. His powers of observation were bound to his sense of impermanence. At Prouts Neck, he channeled his commitment to realism into representations of the rugged coast and churning ocean across the seasons, in varying conditions and at different times of day. In Homer’s depictions of fierce weather in particular, the expressive quality of his brushwork conveys the eternity and majesty of the ocean.

Artist

Winslow Homer

Date

1896

Medium

Oil on canvas

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of George A. Hearn, in memory of Arthur Hoppock Hearn, 1911