Seascape 2

A weathered rowboat sits alone on the damp sand in this seaside scene by Alfred Thompson Bricher, painted in 1870. The tide comes in with rows of foamy white waves, and the pale sky stretches wide above a hazy horizon. If you follow the water out, you will notice a few small sailboats and what appears to be a steamer moving slowly in the distance. Bricher loved the ocean, and here he shows it in one of its calmest moods, the kind of empty morning before anyone else arrives.

Bricher worked in a style called Luminism, an American approach that valued soft light, still water, and quiet open air over big dramatic action. He spent much of his life painting the shores of New England, coming back over and over to the same subjects of surf, sand, and cloudy sky. Nothing much happens in this picture, and that seems to be the point. It rewards a patient eye, letting you settle into the mood of standing at the edge of the water with the salty breeze on your face.