Near the Coast
ca. 1885
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
31 1/4 x 51 in. (79.4 x 129.5 cm)
Classification
Painting
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of an Association of Gentlemen, 1885
Accession Number
85.7
Tags
Art Historical Context
Robert Swain Gifford's *Near the Coast* (ca. 1885) captures the dramatic interplay of sea and sky in a quintessential American landscape. This large-scale oil on canvas, measuring 31 1/4 x 51 inches, invites viewers into a serene yet moody coastal vista, where waves meet rugged shores under expansive, luminous heavens. Oil painting was the gold standard for such ambitious 19th-century landscapes, allowingifford to layer rich colors and subtle textures for atmospheric depth and realism. Gifford, an American artist active in the late 1800s, drew from the Hudson River School tradition, emphasizi...