Close to us, a young man and four boys sit or recline in a small sailboat that tips to our left on a choppy dark green sea fringed with white foam in this horizontal painting. The billowing sail extends off the top left corner of the painting. The horizon line comes about a third of the way up the composition, and wispy gray and white clouds skip across the pale blue sky. The sun skims along the scene from our right so the boys’ ruddy faces are in shadow under their hats. They wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants in shades of brown, slate blue, white, and red. The young man and boys all…
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The Flirt

painter Winslow Homer (American, 1836 - 1910)

1874

Medium
oil on wood
Classification
Painting
Dimensions
overall: 20.64 × 31.91 cm (8 1/8 × 12 9/16 in.) ; framed: 28.58 × 39.37 × 3.81 cm (11 1/4 × 15 1/2 × 1 1/2 in.)
Culture
American
Museum
National Gallery of Art, CAB
Credit line
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon
Rights
Public domain (NGA Open Access, CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed

View at the National Gallery of Art