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Early Morning After a Storm at Sea

Winslow Homer American

Not on view

At Prouts Neck, Homer observed the sea constantly, explaining to a friend: "You must not paint everything you see. You must wait, and wait patiently until the exceptional, the wonderful effect or aspect comes. Then, if you have sense enough to see it—well . . . that is all there is to that." The artist began this evocative seascape in 1900 but based it on a watercolor he had painted in 1883. He considered this oil "the best picture of the sea that I have painted" and was dismayed when it was poorly received by critics. Always sensitive to the reception of his work, Homer complained that "no one understood it," and "besides that, the people never see the early morning effect. They don’t get up early enough."

Early Morning After a Storm at Sea, Winslow Homer (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1836–1910 Prouts Neck, Maine), Oil on canvas, American

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