NGA | Winslow Homer

Mending the Nets

Mending the Nets, 1882, watercolor and gouache over graphite on paper, Bequest of Julia B. Engel

In March 1881, Homer sailed from New York to England, where he spent twenty months in the small fishing villlage of Cullercoats on the North Sea.

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Mending Nets, 1888, etching, Gift of John W. Beatty, Jr.

Homer painted primarily in watercolor while in Cullercoats. Numerous preliminary studies and the careful planning evident in these works reflect his aspiration to construct a more classical, stable art of seriousness and gravity.