The Turkey Buzzard

Winslow Homer painted "The Turkey Buzzard" in 1904 while spending one of his winters in Florida, far from the cold air of his Maine studio. A group of slim palm trees crowds together on a little island, their pale trunks standing out against thick green fronds. The water below sits quiet and still, and if you follow the sky to the upper right, you will spot the single circling bird that gave the work its name. Down along the shore, a few small ducks rest near the golden grasses.

By this stage of his life, Homer had earned a reputation as one of America's finest watercolor painters, and this scene shows the ease that came with all that practice. The foreground reeds are little more than quick flicks of the brush, and the trees carry a soft shimmer that suggests the heat of the day. He was no longer fussing over fine detail, choosing instead to trust his eye and let the loose washes do the work.

Nothing about the view is grand or showy, and that is part of its charm. This is simply a calm slice of nature caught by an artist who plainly enjoyed being outside. The buzzard drifting overhead and the ducks settled on the bank feel like details Homer noticed in a real passing moment and decided were worth holding onto.