Winslow Homer (American, 1836–1910)
The Herring Net
INV-2586
Winslow Homer (American, 1836–1910)1885
The Herring Net
Winslow Homer (American, 1836–1910) →ImpressionismRealismModernismpaintingamerican arts
Date
1885
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
76.5 × 122.9 cm (30 1/8 × 48 3/8 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection
Long inspired by the sea, Winslow Homer spent time in 1881 in a fishing community in Tynemouth, England. The experience fundamentally changed his life and work. His paintings thereafter focused almost exclusively on humankind’s age-old contest with nature. In The Herring Net, executed in Prouts Neck, Maine, Homer depicted the heroic efforts of fishermen at their daily work. In a small dory, one figure hauls in glistening herring, while the other, possibly a boy, unloads the catch. Laboring far from the schooners on the horizon, the pair strives to steady the precarious boat as it rides the incoming swells.
Also notable
Works in the same vein
