High Cliff, Coast of Maine

A rugged stretch of Maine's shoreline fills the scene, with pale, foaming waves breaking hard against dark brown rock under an overcast sky. The painting, titled High Cliff, Coast of Maine, was made in 1894 and is held at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Winslow Homer (1836–1910), an American painter associated with realism, also created the notable work A Country Lad. Looking closely, the contrast between the pale spray of the waves and the heavy, dark stone of the cliffs gives the whole composition a sense of weight and force, as if the water and rock have been locked in this struggle for a long time, with the clouded sky above adding to the somber, elemental mood of the coastal view.