Four Schooners
Classification
seascapes
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Gift of Charles Savage Homer, Jr.
Accession Number
1912-12-7
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
Winslow Homer (1836–1910), one of America's foremost realist painters, captured the raw power and beauty of the sea in works like *Four Schooners* (ca. 1880). By the 1880s, Homer had shifted from Civil War illustrations and rural genre scenes to intense maritime subjects, often inspired by his life along Maine's rugged coast at Prouts Neck. Thisascape likely portrays swift schooners—traditional sailing vessels central to 19th-century American trade and fishing—navigating choppy waters, embodying the perilous yet majestic life of the sea. Homer's seascapes are celebrated for their dramatic rea...