Breezing Up

Winslow Homer painted Breezing Up between 1873 and 1876, working from studies he made in Gloucester, Massachusetts. It is his best-known painting of the New England coast, and it was the painting that established his reputation as a major American artist. A small catboat sails across a choppy sea. Three boys sit in the boat, their legs dangling over the side, watching the sail. A man sits at the tiller, his face turned away. The boat is tilted by the wind, the sail billowing. The sea is painted in deep blues and greens, the sky in pale greys and whites. The canvas is roughly 24 by 38 inches, landscape format. The composition is simple and strong: the boat cuts diagonally across the frame, the sail fills the upper right, the sea fills the lower left. Homer was 37 in 1873. He had been working as an illustrator for Harper's Weekly during the Civil War, and he had turned to painting in oils in the early 1870s. He spent the summer of 1873 in Gloucester, sketching the fishing fleet and the boys who sailed small boats in the harbor. He started Breezing Up there and finished it in his New York studio over the next three years. American painting of the 1870s was moving away from the grand landscapes of the Hudson River School toward scenes of everyday life. Homer was at the center of this shift. Breezing Up was exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876 and was praised for its freshness and directness. It was bought by the National Gallery of Art in 1943. Oil on canvas, 61 by 97 centimeters. Homer painted with a controlled palette of blues, greens, and whites, with the figures built in solid, sculptural forms. The sea is painted in broad, horizontal strokes, with the foam suggested by flecks of white. The sail is a flat shape against the sky, with no detailed modeling. This painting works in a living room, study, or coastal home. The blues and whites suit a room with natural light, white walls, or blue accents. The 18x24 framed version in a white frame is the most versatile size. The horizontal format works well above a sofa or console table. The painting is in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, the Gift of the W. L. and May T. Mellon Foundation. This is a public domain artwork, sourced from Wikimedia Commons. We print it on archival matte paper at sizes from 8x10 to 24x36 inches, framed or unframed. The image is printed at full resolution with no cropping.