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Sharks (The Derelict)
Winslow Homer American
Not on view
During his visits to the Bahamas, Homer may have seen, heard, or read about human encounters with sharks, as several incidents were reported in the local newspaper, the Nassau Guardian. Shortly after the artist arrived in Nassau in 1885, the paper published an eyewitness account of a man "swallowed by an enormous shark" after a boating accident. In this watercolor, the absence of people invites speculation that the swarming creatures have been successful predators. As is often the case in Homer’s work, the precise narrative is unclear. Compositionally, this watercolor is an important predecessor to the final painting of The Gulf Stream (The Met, 06.1234).
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