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The Sea

Harbours, beaches and open water, from Dutch ships under heavy cloud to American coasts at midday. Painters went to the sea for its weather as much as its boats, and the shoreline became one of the places where open-air painting was worked out.

24 works · hang 9310 ·

The rooms are imagined; every work on their walls is real.

Walk this roomRehang this room

Section 1, north wall

  1. Two Gulls and Cliffs, by Louis M. Eilshemius, ca. 1913-1921
    Two Gulls and CliffsLouis M. Eilshemius, ca. 1913-1921Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
  2. The Aegean Sea, by Frederic Edwin Church, ca. 1877
    The Aegean SeaFrederic Edwin Church, ca. 1877Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. Figure Mooring a Boat, by Kannan, mid-1500s
    Figure Mooring a BoatKannan, mid-1500sCourtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art

Section 1, south wall

  1. The image shows a landscape with figures near a body of water. There are buildings made of logs, people gathered near a structure, and trees in the background. The style is detailed with precise linework, shading, and hatching. The color palette is monochrome, emphasizing light and shadow.
    Boat at a River Bank with Three GoatsAllart van Everdingen, probably c. 1645/1656Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. Stage Fort across Gloucester Harbor, by Fitz Henry Lane, 1862
    Stage Fort across Gloucester HarborFitz Henry Lane, 1862Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. Hanging scroll (mounted on panel)
    After the rain: fishing nets drying on the shoreTraditionally attributed to Li Tang, 1368-1644Courtesy of the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution

Section 2, south wall

  1. A work made of color woodblock print; uchiwa-e, aizuri-e.
    Mount Fuji Rising beyond Miho BeachUtagawa Hiroshige, c. 1838/42Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. On the Beach, No. 3, by Maurice Prendergast, c. 1915–18
    On the Beach, No. 3Maurice Prendergast, c. 1915–18Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. Boats at Berck-sur-Mer, by Édouard Manet, 1873
    Boats at Berck-sur-MerÉdouard Manet, 1873Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  4. Water laps at a curving shoreline in front of a steep sandy dune carpeted in grass, shrubs, and trees in this horizontal landscape painting. The dune takes up the lower right quadrant of the composition. A few broken tree trunks are overgrown with vines and plants across the top and down the sloping side of the dune facing us. A red brick wall cuts through the vegetation up the side of the dune and disappears into the shrubbery at the top. The twisting branches and canopies of three large trees reach into the upper right quadrant of the composition. The vegetation stops abruptly along the sheer edge of the dune where it faces the water. The land curves like a backward capital letter C so it almost reaches the left edge of the painting along the horizon, which comes a quarter of the way up the composition. A cow and three more animals, perhaps sheep or more cows, graze or lie on a grassy mound in the distance, and sailboats line the horizon in the deep distance. White ripples swirl in the steel-blue water. The artist signed and dated the lower center, “J Ruisdael . 1648.”
    Dunes by the SeaJacob van Ruisdael, 1648Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Section 2, north wall

  1. Screens (six-panel)
    Waves at Matsushima 松島図屏風Tawaraya Sotatsu, 17th centuryCourtesy of the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution
  2. Painting of centaur with harp, in water, surrounded by mermaids and mermen.
    In the SeaArnold Böcklin, 1883Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 3, north wall

  1. Painting of a beach on a cloudy day with several sailboats on the water, a few rowboats on the shore, and two groupings of people on the sand.
    The Beach at Sainte-AdresseClaude Monet, 1867Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. Impressionist sea landscape, tan houses, blue ocean, distant mountains.
    The Bay of Marseille, Seen from L'EstaquePaul Cézanne, c. 1885Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 3, south wall

  1. The Old Road to the Sea, by William Merritt Chase, c. 1893
    The Old Road to the SeaWilliam Merritt Chase, c. 1893Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  2. Bay of New York, Sunset, by Thomas Chambers, mid 19th century
    Bay of New York, SunsetThomas Chambers, mid 19th centuryCourtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington