Exhibition

Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents

April 11th - July 31st, 2022
Previously on view at The Met Fifth Avenue, Gallery 899
Free with Museum admission

Renowned for his powerful paintings of American life and scenery, Winslow Homer (1836–1910) remains a consequential figure whose art continues to appeal to broad audiences. This exhibition reconsiders Homer’s work through the lens of conflict, a theme that crosses his prolific career. A persistent fascination with struggle permeates his art—from emblematic images of the Civil War and Reconstruction that examine the effects of the conflict on the landscape, soldiers, and formerly enslaved people to dramatic scenes of rescue and hunting as well as monumental seascapes and dazzling tropical works painted throughout the Atlantic world. The centerpiece of the exhibition is Homer’s iconic The Gulf Stream, a painting that reveals his lifelong engagement with charged subjects of race, geopolitics, and the environment. Featuring 88 oils and watercolors, Crosscurrents represents the largest critical overview of Homer’s art and life in more than a quarter of a century.

Accompanied by a scholarly publication.

To access the booklet of all in-gallery labels, click here.

The exhibition is made possible by The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation.

Corporate sponsorship is provided by Bank of America.

Additional support is provided by the Barrie A. and Deedee Wigmore Foundation, the Terra Foundation for American Art, White & Case LLP, the Enterprise Holdings Endowment, and Ann M. Spruill and Daniel H. Cantwell.

This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

It is organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The National Gallery, London.

The catalogue is made possible by the William Cullen Bryant Fellows of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Additional support is provided by the Wyeth Foundation for American Art and Elizabeth Marsteller Gordon.


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Sharpshooter, Winslow Homer  American, Oil on canvas, American
Winslow Homer (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1836–1910 Prouts Neck, Maine)
1863
Defiance, Inviting a Shot before Petersburg, Winslow Homer  American, Oil on panel, American
Winslow Homer (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1836–1910 Prouts Neck, Maine)
1864
Near Andersonville, Winslow Homer  American, Oil on canvas, American
Winslow Homer (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1836–1910 Prouts Neck, Maine)
1865–1866
Prisoners from the Front, Winslow Homer  American, Oil on canvas, American
Winslow Homer (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1836–1910 Prouts Neck, Maine)
1866
The Veteran in a New Field, Winslow Homer  American, Oil on canvas, American
Winslow Homer (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1836–1910 Prouts Neck, Maine)
1865
The Brush Harrow, Winslow Homer  American, Oil on canvas, American
Winslow Homer (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1836–1910 Prouts Neck, Maine)
1865
A Visit from the Old Mistress, Winslow Homer  American, Oil on canvas, American
Winslow Homer (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1836–1910 Prouts Neck, Maine)
1876
The Cotton Pickers, Winslow Homer  American, Oil on canvas, American
Winslow Homer (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1836–1910 Prouts Neck, Maine)
1876
Dressing for the Carnival, Winslow Homer  American, Oil on canvas, American
Winslow Homer (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1836–1910 Prouts Neck, Maine)
1877

Latest reviews

[A] wondrous exhibition…. Takes a fresh look at the themes of struggle and conflict in Homer’s art and simultaneously clarifies his development as a radical painter on the brink of modernism.

The New York Times

Homer may indeed be painting’s Melville… he could cram so much precision and perplexity into a single breath.

The Atlantic

It’s a knockout.

The Washington Post

Grand yet thematically intent…

The New Yorker

Packed with revelations.

Town & Country
Marquee: Winslow Homer (American, 1836–1910). The Gulf Stream (detail), 1899. Oil on canvas, 28 1/8 x 49 1/8 in. (71.4 x 124.8 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Collection, Wolfe Fund, 1906 (06.1234)