The Home of the Heron

During the final years of his life, George Inness and his family spent their winters in Tarpon Springs on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Although his health was failing, the artist continued to paint in Florida and produced some of his most subtle, evocative work there. The Home of the Heron was inspired by the area's wet landscape and seemingly endless sunsets. Influenced by eighteenth-century theologian Emmanuel Swedenborg's philosophy, Inness's spiritual beliefs were the guiding force behind his work. In this painting, the artist used abstraction to convey spiritual associations and to capture the otherworldliness of the marsh.