Early Morning After a Storm at Sea

Winslow Homer (American, 1836–1910)

1900–1903

Medium
oil on canvas
Classification
Painting
Dimensions
Framed: 111 x 160 x 12 cm (43 11/16 x 63 x 4 3/4 in.); Unframed: 76.8 x 127 cm (30 1/4 x 50 in.)
Culture
America, late 19th-early 20th Century
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art, American Painting and Sculpture
Credit line
Gift of J. H. Wade
Rights
Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Kids profiles and older: it shows nature, places, still life or a children's book. How works are placed

View at the Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

The powerful Atlantic surf pounding against the desolate coast of Prouts Neck, Maine, provided primary subject matter for the dramatic paintings that Homer created during his final decades. This example, which the artist proclaimed as "the best picture of the sea that I have painted," was initially conceived as a watercolor. Undertaking the composition in oil after a lapse of nearly two decades, Homer patiently waited for the appropriate atmospheric conditions, executing the work in four different sessions spread over two years.