This gallery incorporates works of several different artists who demonstrate the movement of the ocean. It is a collection of dances of the sea as each work shows a different theme or mood. Throughout this gallery you see how the ocean has different personalities and each work of art here has its own story to go along with those personalities.
The Black Sea. (A storm begins to whip up in the Black Sea), Ivan (Oganes) Ayvazovskiy (Gayvazovskiy), 1881, From the collection of: The State Tretyakov Gallery
This painting depicts how a the sea would move right before a storm takes place. Ayvazovskiy paints choppy waves in order to show how the sea is not at rest. Yet he doesn't show large intimidating waves and uses an even balance between the sky and the water. He equally balances the picture to keep the calm of the storm in the minds of the viewer. The color represents an erie mood as most of the painting has a grey color scale, but we see how the painting lightens up in the center of the ocean as the sun's light is fading behind the clouds
Waves, Gustave Courbet, c. 1870, From the collection of: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo
This painting depicts the classic movement of the wave of the ocean. Courbet, with incredible detail, shows the little things of what makes an ocean wave so enchanting. The distinctive curve underneath the roll of the water with a misty spray protruding on the rocks as the wave makes contact with them. Once again there is a beautiful balance between sky and water, both pieces playing an important role in this painting.
Off the Needles, Isle of Wight, Edward William Cooke, 1811–1880, British, 1845, From the collection of: Yale Center for British Art
This painting demonstrates the movement of water as the temperature drops. We see how the setting of this work sits in an arctic place and how the water calmly sits still. There is barley a ripple on the smooth water, even as the ships float by. The formal element of space is used in this painting as we see the points of reference of where the ships are in comparison to the to large ice berg.
Nassau Harbor, Albert Bierstadt, ca. 1877, From the collection of: de Young museum
This painting shows the movement of an ocean on a clear and sunny day. Just like the movement of water in more frigid temperatures, it's calm and motionless. However in this example the mood as completely changed to a more brighter and happier one. Bierstadt uses color by adding more variety in comparison to the dark moods of gray scale. The water is bright blue with flat movement to show the clear and beautiful day.
The Fog Warning, Winslow Homer, 1885, From the collection of: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The movement of the water in this painting tells a story of it's own. The ocean is beginning to get a little rough as we see the man in his row boat being lifted at an angle that suggests that he is not handling easy waters. There is a fog in the distance that signals there is danger near by and with how the man is turned to look at the fog, we can tell that he needs to move quickly. The movement of the water adds to the drama in which tells the story very well.
Christ on the Sea of Galilee, Eugène Delacroix, 1854, From the collection of: The Walters Art Museum
This painting shows the testament of faith as these fishermen fight a raging storm in the middle of the sea. It is clear that the movement of the water here is not friendly as we see the men struggling to stay in their boat. By noticing the comparison of the boat within the waves it seems almost as if Delacroix made the waves higher than the boat in order to show how powerful the water is. At any moment the sea could easily engulf the fishermen and bring them to their deathly fate.
Christ and His Disciples on the Sea of Galilee, Henry Ossawa Tanner, ca. 1910, From the collection of: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Same story as the previous painting, only this could be taken place at a different time in the story. The movement of the water is much calmer now. The viewer can use his or her imagination to decide if this is the calm before the storm or after when Jesus settles the storm. It could be the time in the story where the men are just setting off for the day since there is still control over the movement of their boat. The ripples of the water are consistent and show no sign of a storm.
Under the Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa-oki nami-ura), also known as the Great Wave, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei), Katsushika Hokusai, published by Nishimuraya Yohachi (Eijudō), about 1830 (Tenpō 1) - 1831 (Tenpō 2), From the collection of: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
This is another example of a moody sea, only the movement of the water here is more dramatic and the formal elements are a little different than the other paintings. The size of the wave is exaggerated and more aggressive with a feeling of danger as the white outline of the wave looks claws about to grab the little boat that braves to fight them. The formal element that is different than most of the paintings in this gallery is the use of line. There is an outline of all the objects as it gives a more definite shape of the monstrous waves.
Northern Sea in the Moonlight, Caspar David Friedrich, 1823/1824, From the collection of: National Gallery Prague
The painting shown here is another demonstration of a calm sea. All the rocks sit evenly on the water, showing there is barley any aggressive movements that threatens them. As a sail ship rests peacefully on the sand without the sea trying to disturb it's gentle sleep. The color scheme is quite dark, but it seems to show that the time of day is dawn, when the sun is beginning to just peak out from behind the clouds.
Mid Ocean, Frederick Judd Waugh, 1875/1945, From the collection of: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
This may be a simple painting of the ocean but it allows the viewer to come up with a story to go along with it. There are no other objects to compare it to or anything to bother it's natural way being. This the ocean when it is left alone. The painting almost has a playful feel to it as the foam of the water is pure white. The sky is bright as well to add on to the water's playful movements. There is a certain unity of this work as the water and the sky come together in perfect harmony. They balance one another well, showing the perfect works of nature.
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This user gallery has been created by an independent third party and may not represent the views of the institutions whose collections include the featured works or of Google Arts & Culture.
