The Gulf Stream
1899 · Oil on canvas · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
📦 Free shipping on every order, arriving in 4–9 business days with production included. Express ($14.90) at checkout arrives in 4–6 business days.
About this work
- Artist
- Winslow Homer (1836–1910)
- Year
- 1899
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 71.4 × 124.8 cm
- Collection
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
- Movement
- Realism
A Black sailor lies across the deck of a small sloop that has lost its mast and rudder, sugar cane stalks beside him, while sharks circle in the blood-streaked water, a waterspout rises on the horizon to the right and a distant ship passes on the left without seeing him. Homer painted it in 1899 in his studio at Prouts Neck, Maine, drawing on watercolours made during winter trips to the Bahamas and Cuba over the previous fifteen years. When viewers asked what would happen to the man, he answered impatiently that the boat and sharks were merely incidental and that the ship would rescue him. The painting was bought by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1906, one of the first Homers to enter a public collection.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
A dismasted boat, sharks and a waterspout make a dramatic seascape for a study, office or coastal living room at 24×16. Black on white or deep blue; it holds its own alone and is not a nursery picture.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Realism painting
- Era
- 19th century (1899)
- Orientation
- Landscape
- Mood
- dramatic, moody
- Rooms
- living room, study or library, home office, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 24×16. Prints at 18×12, 24×16 in — 18×12 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 24×16 above a console or sideboard.
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — black suits the deep tones of this period; natural wood lightens it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is The Gulf Stream in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was The Gulf Stream painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.













