The Butterfly
Classification
figures
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Gift of Charles Savage Homer, Jr.
Accession Number
1917-14-1
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
Winslow Homer (1836–1910), one of America's foremost Realist painters, created *The Butterfly* in 2, a period when he was transitioning from Civil War illustrations to luminous depictions of everyday life and nature. in Boston, Homer began as a commercial illustrator before embracing fine art, capturing the rugged beauty of the American landscape and its people with unflinching honesty. This work, classified under "figures," likely features human subjects intertwined with the natural world—a recurring theme in his oeuvre, evoking the fleeting grace of butterflies amid human activity. Homer's ...