
Northeaster, 1895; reworked by 1901
Oil on canvas
34 1/2 x 50 in. (87.6 x 127 cm)
Metropolitan Museum of Art
On the Maine coast, a “nor’easter” is a storm of exceptional violence and duration. When Homer first showed this canvas in 1895, it included two men in foul-weather gear crouching on the rocks below a smaller column of spray. Even though the painting was well received and purchased by a leading collector of American art — George Hearn, who later donated it to the Metropolitan Museum — Homer reworked it to powerful effect. More on this painting
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…