Breezing Up

A man and three boys ride the swells aboard a small sailboat, its hull painted with the word "Gloucester." The wind tips the vessel to one side, sea spray flies, and a lone schooner sails far off along the horizon. Winslow Homer finished this picture in 1876, and it has grown into a favorite of American art ever since. Everything about the scene points to movement, from the billowing clouds to the tilt of the mast, giving the whole image a lively, open feeling.

Homer worked as a Civil War illustrator before he settled into painting scenes of ordinary life, and he brought a plainspoken realism to the water. This canvas carries more meaning than a simple afternoon on the sea. It appeared during the year of the country's hundredth birthday, so many viewers saw the boys as a stand-in for a young nation heading into its future. Homer fussed over the composition, going so far as to paint out an anchor that once rested in the boat, and the effort shows. The painting now lives at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, where its fresh sea breeze and cheerful mood keep drawing visitors in.