Hello there and welcome back! I recently went on vacation to the beach and so I wanted to go with a theme of water for this week’s post. Hopefully while learning about these amazing pieces of art you’ll feel the warmth of summer as the summer months near their end.

The first piece I want to discuss is a personal favorite of mine. The Birth of Venus is a famous painting made by Italian artist Sandro Botticelli around the year 1485. It shows Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty, rising from the sea on a shell. The painting was made during the Renaissance, a time when people in Europe were very interested in art, learning, and ideas from ancient Greece and Rome. Botticelli was one of the top artists of that time. The painting was made for a rich family in Florence, Italy, and it became very popular. When I was at the beach I thought of this painting while looking out over the water. It’s the kind of painting that has such remarkable beauty that it remains in your mind after you learn about it.

The next piece is Winslow Homer’s, The Gulf Stream. It is a very powerful painting made in 1899 by American artist Winslow Homer. It shows a man alone in a small boat surrounded by rough seas and sharks with no help in sight. Homer was inspired by his trips to the Caribbean and his interest in the strength of Mother Nature and the struggles people face in nature. The painting shows danger, loneliness, and the power of the ocean. It became one of his most famous works and is known for its deep meaning and dramatic feeling. The next time you see rough seas you may just be reminded of this piece.

Finally I wanted to mention The Great Wave off Kanagawa. I’m sure most of you reading are familiar with this piece as it has been mass produced all over the world. This famous picture was made by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai in the early 1830s. He made it using a woodblock printing method. The picture shows a big, strong wave about to crash on small boats, with Mount Fuji in the background. It is part of a group of prints called Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji. This artwork became very popular and is now loved by many. People like it because of its strong colors, detailed lines, and the way it shows the power of nature. 

These artworks show you the range of the ocean. It can be calm and loving but also rough and unforgiving. I find it fascinating how one thing can be interpreted and recreated in so many different ways. Hopefully this has inspired you in some way to create your own depiction of the unpredictable sea. 

Thank you for reading!

~Marissa