Artist: Winslow Homer (1836–1910)
Title: After the Hurricane
Date: 1899
Medium: Transparent watercolor, with touches of opaque watercolor, rewetting, blotting and scraping, over graphite, on moderately thick, moderately textured (twill texture on verso), ivory wove paper.
Dimensions: Height: 38 cm (14.9 in); Width: 54.3 cm (21.3 in)
Inscriptions: Signature and date bottom left: Homer 99
Current Location: Art Institute of Chicago, not on view
What I love about this painting:
After the Hurricane, Bahamas is a watercolor painting by the American artist, Winslow Homer. It shows a man washed up on the beach after a storm, surrounded by the fragments of his shattered boat. The wreckage of the boat gives evidence of the severity of the powerful hurricane, which is retreating. Black clouds still billow but recede into the distance, and sunlight has begun to filter through the clouds.
The man may have lost his boat, but he has survived.
I love the way the whitecaps are depicted, and the colors of the sea are true to the way the ocean looks after a severe storm. Winslow Homer’s watercolor seascapes are especially intriguing to me as they are extremely dramatic and forceful expressions of nature’s power. The beauty and intensity of Homer’s vision of “ocean” are unmatched—in my opinion his seascapes are alive in a way few other artists can match.
This painting was done in 1899 and marked the end of Homer’s watercolor series depicting man against nature. That series was begun with Shark Fishing in 1885, the year he first visited the Caribbean and is comprised of at least six known paintings. The most famous of these watercolor paintings is The Gulf Stream, which was also painted in 1899. After the Hurricane, Bahamas is the last of the series.
About the artist, via Wikipedia
Winslow Homer (February 24, 1836 – September 29, 1910) was an American landscape painter and printmaker, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th-century America and a preeminent figure in American art.
Homer started painting with watercolors on a regular basis in 1873 during a summer stay in Gloucester, Massachusetts. From the beginning, his technique was natural, fluid and confident, demonstrating his innate talent for a difficult medium. His impact would be revolutionary. [1]
Credits and Attributions:
After the Hurricane, Bahamas by Winslow Homer, [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
[1] Wikipedia contributors, “Winslow Homer,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Winslow_Homer&oldid=1055649094 (accessed December 9, 2021).
Wikimedia Commons contributors, “File:Winslow Homer – After the Hurricane, Bahamas.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Winslow_Homer_-_After_the_Hurricane,_Bahamas.jpg&oldid=428549979 (accessed December 9, 2021).
Life in the Realm of Fantasy 
Thanks for the break down. I am always impressed by his paintings and I think those whitecaps and the sandy beach with grass dotting it are really magnificent. Interesting composition, too.
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Winslow Homer is one of my favorite artists. In my opinion, he had the ability to capture the emotion of a moment in time.
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Winslow’s use of white space is impressive! Wish I could paint like that.
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Hello Johanna! I wish I had that ability too. I feel blessed though because even if I can’t get to a museum to view the art in person, I can see and admire the works of the masters thanks to the miracle of Wikimedia Commons and the internet.
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This one keyed right into my emotions. Very moving.
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Hello Felicia! So glad you liked it. I love Winslow Homer’s work–he tells a story in every painting.
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