From November 2, 2025, to January 19, 2026, the Museum of Effective Arts, Boston presents the exhibition “Of Light and Air: Winslow Homer in Watercolor”
Supply: MFA Boston · Picture: Winslow Homer, “The Blue Boat”, 1892. Museum of Effective Arts, Boston
American artist Winslow Homer (1836–1910) remodeled the medium of watercolor by way of his relentless spirit of experimentation. His luminous views transport viewers to the rugged Maine coast, the Adirondack Mountains, seaside England, sun-drenched Caribbean waters, and past. The MFA homes the most important assortment of Homer’s watercolors on the earth, although the works’ fragility and sensitivity to mild means they haven’t been displayed collectively in almost half a century.
This exhibition brings dozens of the MFA’s Homer watercolors again into the galleries for a brand new era to expertise, alongside a number of associated oils, drawings, and prints by the artist. With materials starting from Homer’s childhood drawings all the way in which to his remaining canvas, left unfinished on the time of his demise, guests can comply with the foremost chapters in his profession and study in regards to the varied environments—ecological, creative, social, and financial—that formed his enduring work in watercolor.
Born in Boston, Homer had a protracted relationship with New England and the MFA, which was one of many first museums to accumulate a portray by the artist, Fog Warning (1885), in 1894. The primary watercolor, Leaping Trout (1889), got here into the gathering quickly after, and over the twentieth century the Museum amassed nearly 50 watercolors and 11 oil work by Homer, creating one of the important collections of Homer’s work throughout media.
Author Henry James famously described Homer as an artist “who sees everything at once with its envelope of light and air”—a becoming description of a painter who utilized the distinctive qualities of watercolor to seize the ephemeral, fleeting nature of his subject material. From the serene waters in his iconic The Blue Boat (1892) to the drama of Breaking Wave (Prout’s Neck) (1887), “Of Light and Air: Winslow Homer in Watercolor” invitations guests to rejoice the artist’s mastery of the medium and the progressive methods he pioneered. The exhibition is accompanied by a forthcoming e book from MFA Publications.
