Art History News: Of Light and Air: Winslow Homer in Watercolor

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

November 2, 2025, through January 19, 2026

Few American artists are as closely associated with the outdoors as Winslow Homer (1836–1910), and few rival his ability to depict it in watercolor. This fall, visitors to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to see the MFA’s collection of watercolors by the Boston-born artist—the largest collection in the world. Due to the medium’s light-sensitive nature, these works have not been displayed together in almost half a century.

Of Light and Air: Winslow Homer in Watercolor presents nearly 50 watercolors by the artist, alongside a selection of his related oils, drawings, and prints. With material ranging from Homer’s childhood drawings all the way to his final canvas, the exhibition follows the major chapters in his career and explores the various environments—ecological, artistic, social, and economic—that shaped his enduring work in watercolor.

Giving this exhibition its title, author Henry James once wrote, Homer “is a genuine painter; that is, to see and to reproduce what he sees is his only care…he naturally sees everything at once with its envelope of light and air.” Homer transformed the medium of watercolor through his relentless spirit of experimentation. With fluid brushstrokes, dynamic compositions, and a vibrant palette, he created immersive scenes that not only depict the natural world but also invite us to inhabit it. Homer’s watercolors capture the look and feel of a place, transporting us to the rugged Maine coast, the Adirondack Mountains, the English seashore, and the sunlit Caribbean.

The exhibition is co-curated by Christina Michelon, Pamela and Peter Voss Curator of Prints and Drawings, and Ethan Lasser, John Moors Cabot Chair, Art of the Americas and Head of Exhibitions Strategy.

“We are excited for visitors to experience these watercolors in person,” said Michelon. “We rarely get to exhibit them because they are so light sensitive, so this is a truly special opportunity to witness Homer’s evolution as an artist in this medium and in the context of the MFA’s broader collection of his work. The MFA was Homer’s hometown museum, so we feel especially fortunate to steward the incredible collection of his art across media.”

“It is a great privilege to share these works with a new generation,” said Lasser. “We hope this exhibition brings our visitors some brightness and color as the days grow shorter. Homer invites us to slow down, look closely, and take careful stock of the natural wonders around us.

Of Light and Air: Winslow Homer in Watercolor is on view at the MFA from November 2, 2025, through January 19, 2026, in the Ann and Graham Gund Gallery. Timed-entry tickets are required for all visitors and can be reserved on mfa.org or purchased at the Museum. Member Preview takes place on November 1. Following the MFA’s presentation, the exhibition will travel to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, where it will be on view from June 13, 2027, through September 19, 2027.

Exhibition Overview

The exhibition is largely organized chronologically, following the major chapters of Homer’s life. The first gallery opens with some of Homer’s most iconic watercolors, including the beloved The Blue Boat (1892) and introduces the range of techniques and approaches he developed over the course of nearly 40 years. Highlights in this section include Leaping Trout (1889), the first watercolor by Homer to enter the MFA’s collection and the first to be purchased by any museum.

The following section, “Origins,” explores Homer’s early years in Boston and his work as a freelance illustrator for print houses and publications including Ballou’s Pictorial Drawing Room Companion and Harper’s Weekly, along with works from when he served as a “special artist” on the front lines of the Civil War. These include rare examples of Homer’s eyewitness observations: ink wash drawings that introduced him to the possibilities of watercolor. Works by Homer’s mother, Henrietta Benson Homer (1809–1884), an accomplished watercolorist, are also included here.

The 1870s marked a pivotal shift in both Homer’s life and the cultural landscape of the U.S. The section “Transitions” highlights the artist’s early forays into watercolor and show how he moved between watercolor and oil, often revisiting the same subjects in both mediums, such as the rural lives of children, the rolling Hudson Valley, and popular new leisure spaces like the beach. In this period, Homer's work offered solace to a nation recovering from the Civil War and he increasingly depicted women and children in works such as Boys in a Pasture (1874). He also addressed the realities of Black families during Reconstruction, as shown in The Dove Cote (about 1873).

Throughout his career, Homer was drawn to the sea. “Atlantic Shores” looks at the watercolors painted between 1873 and 1904 in coastal communities from Gloucester, Massachusetts, to Prouts Neck, Maine, as well as in Florida, the Caribbean, and England. As Homer refined his practice, he increasingly differentiated his oils from his watercolors—laboring over large paintings like The Lookout—"All's Well" (1896), but painting watercolors quickly, favoring observation and experimentation over narrative content.

Beginning in the early 1870s, Homer spent extended periods in the Adirondacks, later joining the North Woods Club, a private organization that preserved land for fishing and hunting. “The North Woods” presents some of Homer’s most innovative watercolors, trading ocean vistas for enveloping forest scenery.

In “Winslow Homer: A Legacy in Watercolor,” visitors can enjoy a video featuring Judith Walsh, paper conservator and Professor Emerita, SUNY Buffalo State College, and James Prosek, artist, writer, and naturalist, who share insights on Homer’s life and influence. The two take a closer look at some of Homer’s watercolors in the MFA’s Morse Study Room and venture to Homer's home and studio in Prouts Neck. Prosek also paints a watercolor, employing many of Homer’s techniques.

Homer’s studio was located directly on the coast, and he spent many hours during the last decades of his life observing and recording the movement of waves and the varied colors of ocean and sky. “Turn, Turn, Tumble,” the final gallery in the exhibition, takes its name from a phrase Homer wrote on the wall of his Prouts Neck Studio, articulating the motion of rolling waves, a phenomenon he frequently strove to capture. It includes two depictions of waves painted 23 years apart—Breaking Wave (Prouts Neck) (1887) and Driftwood (1909), Homer’s final oil painting.

About the Artist

Winslow Homer was born in Boston and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Around the age of 17, he began an apprenticeship at one of Boston’s leading print shops, where he learned about composition and draftsmanship. Though he later relocated to New York and then to Maine, Homer maintained his ties to Boston through the patrons, dealers, printers, and publishers who supported him throughout his career. Working as a freelance artist, Homer contributed illustrations to popular newspapers. At the start of the Civil War in 1861, Harper’s Weekly sent him to the front lines as an artist-correspondent. Homer was embedded with a regiment of Union troops for six weeks, where he sketched scenes of military action and life in camp.

Homer painted some of his first oils and began experimenting with watercolor after the war. He enjoyed increasing success as an oil painter, regularly exhibiting and selling his work to collectors in Boston and New York. In the 1870s, watercolor became a critical part of his art practice. As he honed his technique, Homer traveled widely to the Hudson Valley, the Adirondacks, Massachusetts, Maine, Florida, the Caribbean, England, and Canada—drawing inspiration from the landscapes and communities he encountered. From 1884 until his death in 1910, he lived and worked in his Prouts Neck studio in Maine. At the age of 74, Homer died in his home and studio and was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.

Publication

The exhibition is accompanied by a book from MFA Publications which includes vivid reproductions of Homer’s works as well as insightful essays on the artist and on the techniques and materials he used to create his watercolors.

Winslow Homer (1836–1910) once said, “You will see, in the future I will live by my watercolors.” Today, many consider Homer to be one of the most important painters to work in the medium. Winslow Homer in Watercolor offers a deep dive into one of the most significant collections of the artist's watercolors, held by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Featuring nearly fifty of these luminous works on paper, readers will be transported to the rugged Maine coast, the mountains of the Adirondacks, the shores of seaside England, and the bright sun of the Caribbean to explore the various environments—ecological, artistic, social, and economic—that impacted Homer’s enduring work in watercolor.

About the Author

Christina Michelon is Pamela and Peter Voss Curator of Prints and Drawings, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Annette Manick is Head of Paper Conservation, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

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