Winslow Homer was born in Boston, in 1836, and raised in the suburb of Cambridge. His paintings of American life quickly made him the country’s foremost landscape painter. But after two years in England, from 1881 to 1882, his style changed. He moved to Maine in 1883 and began to paint the sea, capturing its sound and fury in maritime masterpieces. What is less known is that Homer wintered in the tropics many times between the years 1884 and 1905. While there he painted atmospheric scenes that included soldiers and the formerly enslaved. The Gulf Stream (1899), one of Homer’s most famous works, is the centerpiece of an exhibition that looks at race and geopolitics through the lens of land and sea. —Elena Clavarino

Travels to: The National Gallery, London (September 10, 2022 – January 8, 2023)