Boats in Art History

Breezing Up (A Fair Wind) (1873-76), Homer

September marks the end of Summer, boating season, near end of major league baseball, the start of Fall and the school year. Sailing and sailboats have always fascinated me, though not enough to purchase one. Instead, I'll stick to rowboats and canoes, fishing on lakes rather than the open seas. My first, and probably my favorite, sailing painting is by Winslow Homer, an artist whom I studied in Art History in college. The man and three boys makes me nostalgic for my dad and two brothers.

Impression Sunrise (1872), Monet

Around the same time, French Impressionist Claude Monet painted his iconic Impression Sunrise. Blues dominate this seascape with contrasting orange punctuating an amazing sunrise. The only other colors are dark green and purple suggesting the silhouetted shapes of small watercraft against a background of larger ships.

Boating (1874), Manet

Édouard Manet's Boating captures a young couple sailing in the Summer. The man is Manet's brother-in-law, Rodolphe Leenhoff, and it is only assumed that the woman is Manet's wife, Camille. While the boom is meant to frame the scene, I am bothered by the corner and the dark-shadowed interior behind the woman's back. And her pose seems unsteady, awkwardly leaning into an empty space. Luckily, Leenhoff's white clothing takes contrasting focus away from the darker parts of the boat.

The Boating Party (1893/94), Cassatt

In contrast to the Manet painting (above), Mary Cassatt's portrait (with child) is darker, but includes a thin sliver of horizon not present in Manet's. Cassatt has rendered a Gauguin-like ~post-impressionist work using solid, decorative, almost geometric shapes that flatten the picture. The rigging of the sail cuts off the shadowed portion of the female figures. The sail and the woman's hat shade the woman's face and the top half of the child's face. Cassatt has used a light green (citron) and black to divide the scene from the expanse of blue water, helped by the diagonal lines of the rigging and oar.

Fishing Boats on the Beach (1888), Van Gogh

I love Van Gogh's paintings of fishing boats. The masts, spars, and rigging seem to complicate the composition to me. Especially the reddish orange diagonal line (boom?)! As always, I appreciate Vincent's use of yellow. His trip to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer lasted one week in June 1888, approximately two years before the artist's death in July 1890.

Sunrise (Mane) (1872-73), Monet

Another of Monet's sunrise paintings is on exhibit at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California, where my daughter recently visited. She knows of my passion for art and particularly impressionists. Just as atmospheric as the one above, but softer and less bright, I think I actually prefer this version to the other more famous sunrise painting.

Boats at Anchor (1917), Sargent

My favorite portrait artist, John Singer Sargent, also painted landscapes and seascapes. I love this watercolor of Boats at Anchor (1917). Sometimes I wish artists would edit out the somewhat repetitive reflections in favor of simplifying their compositions. Using watercolor though, Sargent merely suggests, rather than duplicates, the reflected images. His quick brushstrokes and squiggly masts make the water come alive with light and shadow. I'm not sure about the white blob in the bottom left corner (another boat?).

The Boat (1953), Matisse

As far as reflections, Henri Matisse created a rather simple paper-cut composition of a sailboat. In 1961, his work was mistakenly hung upside-down at MOMA in New York for 47 days before a museum patron alerted a guard about it. I love showing this one to my young art students! 

Vernazza Harbor (2024), Patterson

My last example of boats is my own acrylic painting of the harbor at Vernazza, Italy. I painted it for my daughter and her husband last year for Christmas, after promising it as their wedding present almost two years prior. The hardest part was the windows and the mooring pier to the right. I like the smaller reflections of the boats in the middle ground and how the reflection of the water shimmers on the wall of the pier. This would make an excellent jigsaw puzzle! Maybe I'll submit it for another Xmas gift.