Taking on Wet Provisions, 1903
watercolour
35.5 x 55.7 cm (14" x 21.75")

Winslow Homer (1836-1910). Metropolitan Musuem of Art, New York.

Notes on Winslow Homer's technique:

The technical strength of Homer's watercolours lies in their simplicity. Only what is essential to the image, or essential to conveying Homer's impression of the scene, is included.

In Taking on Wet Provisions the colour scheme has been reduced to three or four colours. The sky and the sea are monochromatic, and the drawing has been reduced to a minimum, as witnessed by the figures or the ship's rigging. It would be difficult to take anything more away from the painting, as a Picasso or a Rauol Dufy certainly would have, without the painting as a whole having a different effect. Similarly, if more were added to the scene, as a marine painter would do, the effect again would be different. A marine painting would be more about the ship and the sea, and less about the experience of having seen the ship. As it stands, the painting nearly perfectly conveys Homer's intentions. Nothing more is needed. All of which is why this painting stands as a technical masterpiece.