Close to us, a young man and three boys sit or recline in a small sailboat that tips to our left on a choppy dark green sea in this horizontal painting. The billowing sail extends off the top left corner of the canvas and is echoed in the background to our right by the tall sails of another ship in the distance. The horizon line comes about a third of the way up the composition, and puffy gray and white clouds sweep across the turquoise sky. The sun lights the scene from our right so the boys’ ruddy faces are in shadow under their hats. The young man and boys all face our left so they lean…
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Breezing Up (A Fair Wind)

Winslow Homer (American, 1836 - 1910)

1873-1876

Medium
oil on canvas
Classification
Painting
Dimensions
overall: 61.5 x 97 cm (24 3/16 x 38 3/16 in.) ; framed: 90.5 x 126.4 cm (35 5/8 x 49 3/4 in.)
Culture
American
Museum
National Gallery of Art, CAB
Credit line
Gift of the W. L. and May T. Mellon Foundation
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