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Water, weather and the way home

The Sea

Boats at anchor, a harbour going quiet by moonlight, Boudin's beaches under a wide summer sky, Homer's Gulf Stream, a storm off the Normandy coast, and Hokusai's great wave about to come down on three boats. Painters from Holland to Japan have followed the sea, and it has never once held still for them.

46 pictures, pick one to build

Calm Sea Simon de Vlieger, after 1640 Rough Waves Ogata Kōrin, ca. 1704–9 Low Tide, Riverside Yacht Club Theodore Robinson, 1894 Under the Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki nami ura), or The Great Wave, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei) Katsushika Hokusai, ca. 1830–32 Market by the Seashore Salomon van Ruysdael, 1637 Honfleur Johan Barthold Jongkind, 1865 At the Seaside William Merritt Chase, ca. 1892 Seascape Unidentified artist Fantastic Rocks with Cascading Waterfall; Fishing Boats by a Lake Hamlet Aiseki, first half of the 19th century Harbor Scene with a Grotto and Fishermen Hauling in Nets Style of Joseph Vernet Boats on the Seacoast at Etaples Charles-François Daubigny, 1871 The Fishing Boat Gustave Courbet, 1865 Ship by Moonlight Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (Hovhannes Aivazian) Whalers Joseph Mallord William Turner, ca. 1845 Venice from the Bacino di San Marco Francesco Guardi, ca. 1765–75 The Trojan Women Setting Fire to Their Fleet Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellée), ca. 1643 Stage Fort across Gloucester Harbor Fitz Henry Lane (formerly Fitz Hugh Lane), 1862 The Birth of Venus Alexandre Cabanel, 1875 Lair of the Sea Serpent Elihu Vedder, ca. 1899 The North Cape by Moonlight Peder Balke, 1848 On the North Coast of Devon, Lundy Island in the Distance Samuel Palmer, ca. 1835 Boats Julian Alden Weir Noboto Bay (Noboto no ura), from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei) Katsushika Hokusai, ca. 1830–32 Entrance to a Dutch Port Willem van de Velde II, ca. 1665 On the Beach, Sunset Eugène Boudin, 1865 Sunset on the Sea John Frederick Kensett, 1872 The Outer Harbor of Brest Henri Joseph van Blarenberghe, 1773 A Storm off the Normandy Coast Eugène Isabey, probably 1850s Approaching Thunder Storm Martin Johnson Heade, 1859 The Toilers of the Sea Albert Pinkham Ryder, ca. 1880–85 Dover Pier, Kent David Cox, 1828–40 Ghosts of the Taira at Daimotsu Bay Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 1843–47 A Beach with Fishing Boats Jan van Goyen, probably 1653 Princess Pauline Metternich (1836–1921) on the Beach Eugène Boudin, ca. 1865–67 Inside the Bar Winslow Homer, 1883 Sunset after a Storm on the Coast of Sicily Andreas Achenbach, 1853 Sea Cove Albert Bierstadt, ca. 1880–90 Under a Cloud Albert Pinkham Ryder, ca. 1900 Bamborough Castle from the Northeast, with Holy Island in the Distance, Northumberland John Varley, 1827 Beaulieu: The Bay of Fourmis Eugène Boudin, 1892 The Gulf Stream Winslow Homer, 1899; reworked by 1906 Mother and Child by the Sea Johan Christian Dahl, 1830 The Smugglers' Cove Albert Pinkham Ryder, ca. 1880 On the Beach at Trouville Eugène Boudin, 1863 Copenhagen Harbor by Moonlight Johan Christian Dahl, 1846 On the Beach, Dieppe Eugène Boudin, 1864