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Moonlight, Wood Island Light

Winslow Homer American
1894
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 770
Homer’s first biographer recounted an anecdote about this painting: the artist was sitting outside his seaside studio one summer evening in 1894, when he exclaimed, "‘I’ve got an idea!’ . . . He almost ran into the studio, seized his painting outfit, emerged from the house, and clambered down over the rocks towards the shore." This picture "was the result of that impulse and four or five hours’ work." It was this type of unmediated approach to painting that endeared Homer to a generation of artists and critics at the turn of the twentieth century.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Moonlight, Wood Island Light
  • Artist: Winslow Homer (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1836–1910 Prouts Neck, Maine)
  • Date: 1894
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 30 3/4 x 40 1/4 in. (78.1 x 102.2 cm)
  • Credit Line: Gift of George A. Hearn, in memory of Arthur Hoppock Hearn, 1911
  • Object Number: 11.116.2
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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Still Life—Violin and Music, William Michael Harnett American, Oil on canvas, American
Still Life—Violin and Music
William Michael Harnett
1888
A Young Mother, Bessie Potter Vonnoh American, Bronze, American
A Young Mother
Bessie Potter Vonnoh
Founder Cast by Roman Bronze Works
1896, cast ca. 1906
The Veteran in a New Field, Winslow Homer American, Oil on canvas, American
The Veteran in a New Field
Winslow Homer
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