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Inside the Bar

Winslow Homer American
1883
Not on view
On large sheets of paper such as the one used for this work—produced on his return to the United States but depicting a North Sea fisherwoman—Homer perfected traditional English watercolor techniques, laying out compositions with broad, overlapping washes of color. Critically praised when it was exhibited in New York, Inside the Bar is seen as a benchmark of the ambitious turn in Homer’s art, foregrounding heroicized figures engaged in dramatic action. Viewers were particularly taken with the power of the woman, positioned between two boats bearing men: “This woman is not made of the stuff that is swept away. . . . She is transformed by the terrible beauty of the time and place; her stride is magnificent; she is part of the storm itself."

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Inside the Bar
  • Artist: Winslow Homer (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1836–1910 Prouts Neck, Maine)
  • Date: 1883
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Watercolor and graphite on off-white wove paper
  • Dimensions: 16 x 29 in. (40.6 x 73.7 cm)
    Framed: 28 1/2 x 41 3/8 in. (72.4 x 105.1 cm)
  • Credit Line: Gift of Louise Ryals Arkell, in memory of Bartlett Arkell, 1954
  • Object Number: 54.183
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

More Artwork

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Annie Lawrie (Sheet music cover), Winslow Homer American, Lithograph
Annie Lawrie (Sheet music cover)
Multiple artists/makers
1850–59
Sunday Morning in Virginia – From the Painting by Winslow Homer in the National Academy of Design (from "Harper's Weekly," Vol. XXIV), Winslow Homer American, Wood engraving
Sunday Morning in Virginia – From the Painting by Winslow Homer in the National Academy of Design (from "Harper's Weekly," Vol. XXIV)
Winslow Homer
May 22, 1880
A Quiet Day in the Country (from "Appleton's Journal," Vol. III), Winslow Homer American, Wood engraving
A Quiet Day in the Country (from "Appleton's Journal," Vol. III)
Winslow Homer
D. Appleton & Co.
June 6, 1870
George Blake's Letter (The Galaxy, An Illustrated Magazine of Entertaining Reading, Vol. IX), Winslow Homer American, Wood engraving
George Blake's Letter (The Galaxy, An Illustrated Magazine of Entertaining Reading, Vol. IX)
Winslow Homer
January 1870
"I Cannot! It Would Be a Sin! A Fearful Sin!" (The Galaxy, An Illustrated Magazine of Entertaining Reading, Vol. VI), Winslow Homer American, Wood engraving
"I Cannot! It Would Be a Sin! A Fearful Sin!" (The Galaxy, An Illustrated Magazine of Entertaining Reading, Vol. VI)
Winslow Homer
September 1868

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