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Kissing the Moon

Winslow Homer American

1904

Not on view

Kissing the Moon is among Homer’s most distinctive works, painted near the end of his life. Its puzzling composition of a hunter and sailors—fixed in a liminal moment and nearly submerged by waves—exemplifies the artist’s ongoing investigation of themes of incipient conflict and ambiguous outcomes. The painting has been interpreted in biographical terms, possibly referencing the mortality of the three Homer brothers. The artist resisted any explanation of the work, noting only that he preferred that viewers keep their distance from it. He wrote to his dealer in 1904, "Your window is the only place where a picture can be seen in a proper manner . . . to look at and not smell of."

Kissing the Moon, Winslow Homer (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1836–1910 Prouts Neck, Maine), Oil on canvas, American — This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Title: Kissing the Moon

Artist: Winslow Homer (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1836–1910 Prouts Neck, Maine)

Date: 1904

Culture: American

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 30 1/4 × 40 in. (76.8 × 101.6 cm)
Framed: 42 in. × 52 1/2 in. × 4 3/4 in. (106.7 × 133.4 × 12.1 cm)

Credit Line: Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA, Bequest of Candace C. Stimson, 1946.19

Object Number: WHC.066

Rights and Reproduction: Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA

The Met

The American Wing at The Met

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works by African American, Euro American, Native American, and Latin American artists, ranging from the colonial to early-modern period.