Guided tour · For everyone

The sea

Waves, a storm, a calm, a harbour and a sunrise: eight ways of looking at the sea, across 3,000 years.

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Works

8

Time

about 7 min

Collections

5

About this tour

Eight works about the sea, from Japan to America and from about 1200 BC to the 1870s. Each one begins with a moment of just looking. The tour moves on by itself; pause whenever you like.

We start with the most famous wave in the world.

The 8 works

1. 

   Work 1 of 8

   Under the Wave off Kanagawa (The Great Wave)

   Katsushika Hokusai · about 1830–32 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

   What do you see first: the wave, the boats, or the mountain?

   Most people see the wave first. But in the middle, small and calm, is Mount Fuji.

   Katsushika Hokusai was about seventy when he made this woodblock print. Thousands were printed; this one is in New York.

2. 

   Work 2 of 8

   The Great Wave, Sète

   Gustave Le Gray · 1857 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

   This is a photograph from 1857. What is moving, and what is still?

   The wave is caught at the moment it breaks, while the clouds seem to stand still.

   Photography was still new, and the bright sky and the dark sea were very hard to catch in one picture. Gustave Le Gray's sea photographs stunned people at the time and made his name far beyond France.

3. 

   Work 3 of 8

   A Ship on the High Seas Caught by a Squall, Known as “The Gust”

   Willem van de Velde the Younger · about 1680 · Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

   Something has gone wrong on this ship. Can you see what?

   A sudden gust of wind has broken one of its masts, and a sail has come loose.

   Willem van de Velde knew ships inside out: he and his father painted the sea for the English king. This warship carries seventy guns, and still the wind is stronger.

4. 

   Work 4 of 8

   Dort, or Dordrecht: The Dort Packet-Boat from Rotterdam Becalmed

   J.M.W. Turner · 1818 · Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

   There is almost no wind. How can you tell?

   The sails hang still, and every boat is mirrored in the smooth water.

   J.M.W. Turner painted this after a journey to the Netherlands. “Becalmed” means the boat has no wind to sail with. Everything glows in soft, golden light.

5. 

   Work 5 of 8

   Terracotta stirrup jar with octopus

   Mycenaean, Greece · about 1200–1100 BC · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

   What creature wraps its arms around this jar?

   An octopus on each side, with fish beside it! Their curling arms almost meet around the jar.

   This jar was made in Greece more than 3,000 years ago; jars like it were used to carry liquids. Octopuses were a favourite design on jars like this.

6. 

   Work 6 of 8

   Breezing Up (A Fair Wind)

   Winslow Homer · 1873–76 · National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

   Where do you feel the wind? How is the boat moving?

   The boat leans over, the sail is full, and the boys lean back against the wind.

   Winslow Homer loved the sea and painted boys sailing. He worked on this picture for several years.

7. 

   Work 7 of 8

   The Harbor at Lorient

   Berthe Morisot · 1869 · National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

   Who is sitting on the wall? What is she doing?

   A young woman in white with a pink parasol, looking down at the water.

   She is the painter's sister, Edma, who also painted. Berthe Morisot painted it loosely, catching the shimmering light on the water. A few years later she was one of the Impressionists.

8. 

   Work 8 of 8

   Sunrise (Marine)

   Claude Monet · 1872 or 1873 · J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

   What time of day is it? How can you tell?

   Very early morning. The sun is just rising through the mist, and its orange light dances on the water.

   Claude Monet painted the harbour of Le Havre at dawn in 1873, quickly and outdoors. It is one of the first works in the style soon called Impressionism.

The end of the tour

Eight seas.

A wave, a photograph, a storm, a calm, an octopus, a fair wind, a harbour and a sunrise. Which one will you remember?

Start this tour in Auriaan

Works from these collections

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Rijksmuseum
• Yale Center for British Art
• National Gallery of Art
• J. Paul Getty Museum

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