A Fresh Breeze
1913
George Bellows is best known for his gritty, muscular paintings of boxing matches in New York, but here he trades the sweat of the ring for the salt spray of the coast. Painted in 1913, this seascape captures a lone sailboat leaning hard into a stiff breeze, dwarfed by massive, billowing clouds and dark, churning waters. The thick, energetic brushstrokes make the ocean feel almost alive and restless. It’s a great example of how this Ashcan School master could capture raw, untamed power in nature just as effectively as he did in the city.