Winslow Homer’s “The Gulf Stream”

Winslow Homer, The Gulf Stream, 1899-1906.

Winslow Homer, one of the great American landscape painters. Almost completely self-taught, Homer is widely known for his marine subjects. Naturally, he loved the Florida Keys.

“Marine subjects” and landscape painting might be perceived as boring on paper, but Winslow had a knack for drama. In most of his paintings, facial expressions are partial but very telling.

This painting, titled “The Gulf Stream”, is an epic. It shows a man stranded at sea off the Florida Keys, surrounded by sharks and a turbulent sea. Stoicism is on full display despite the conditions.

The lighting is somewhat Caravaggio-esque. An oncoming storm is giving way to sharks in the shadows of the clouds, rough waves, the last bit of sunshine illuminating a boat with no mast, the waterspout in the distance-

three sections of drama from front to back.

On the deck of the boat we can see a black male stoically awaiting his death, along stalks of sugarcane. This not only a very possibly instance that could’ve happened when sailing off the coast of Florida, but it is also a comment on the American narrative regarding race. The painting was created during Jim Crow, years before it would be legally overturned in 1965. The work is the painting equivalent to that of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin in the Wind”.

Despite violent conditions, the subject is looking beyond the dangers surrounding him in bravery and resilience, while being helpless in the situation.

Excellent painting. A nod to Florida, the Caribbean, maritime history and a cunning comment on race relations in America.

Note the ‘Key West’ written on the back of the boat.

V.N