1876, John Singer Sargent, Atlantic Storm -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) (special exhibition)
From the museum label: A seasoned traveler since childhood, Sargent finally visited the United States for the first time in 1876, when he was twenty years old. He seems to have sketched constantly during his Atlantic crossings. This dramatic composition was inspired by a ferocious storm that he encountered aboard the ship SS Algeria on his return to Europe in the autumn. Sargent captures the power and intensity of the ocean with expressive brushwork while creating a daring composition that exploits the precipitous tilt of the ship's deck against the swelling waves and the vessel's wake. In the foreground, the extreme perspective of the deck, with its suspended lifeboats and silhouetted figures, creates a disarming and improbable sense of space and scale.
1876, John Singer Sargent, Atlantic Storm -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) (special exhibition)
From the museum label: A seasoned traveler since childhood, Sargent finally visited the United States for the first time in 1876, when he was twenty years old. He seems to have sketched constantly during his Atlantic crossings. This dramatic composition was inspired by a ferocious storm that he encountered aboard the ship SS Algeria on his return to Europe in the autumn. Sargent captures the power and intensity of the ocean with expressive brushwork while creating a daring composition that exploits the precipitous tilt of the ship's deck against the swelling waves and the vessel's wake. In the foreground, the extreme perspective of the deck, with its suspended lifeboats and silhouetted figures, creates a disarming and improbable sense of space and scale.