Breezing Up (A Fair Wind)
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About Breezing Up (A Fair Wind)
The sea lifts one side of the boat, and four bodies quietly answer.
One boy holds the tiller. Another keeps a rope under control. The others shift their weight while the sail fills with wind and disappears beyond the top of the picture. Nobody gives a speech about teamwork. They simply know what to do.
Winslow Homer had spent time making watercolors along the Massachusetts coast before working on this painting from 1873 to 1876. He understood that a small boat does not move through choppy water by sitting perfectly level. It leans, rises, dips, and keeps going.
The painting is also called A Fair Wind: a wind that helps the journey. Even the clouds seem to be travelling with the crew. The boat is tiny beside the open sea, but the people inside it have found their balance together.
Artwork details
- Artist
- Winslow Homer
- Date
- 1873–76
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 61.5 × 97 cm
- Collection
- National Gallery of Art
- Accession number
- 1943.13.1
