Water
Water in Art: Reflections and Waves
Water is the painter’s favorite show-off challenge — it has no color of its own, yet it has to shimmer, ripple, and reflect the whole world above it. This gallery gathers the brightest passages of water in the collection: sunlit harbors, rippling ponds, the white crest of a wave. Click any detail to see the painting it came from.
24 details · cropped from original museum images
Large breaking wave
Winslow Homer · Prout's Neck, Breakers
Art Institute of Chicago
large central waterfall
Franz Marc · The Bewitched Mill
Art Institute of Chicago
grand central waterfall
Achille-Etna Michallon · Waterfall at Mont-Dore
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
large breaking white wave
Winslow Homer · Prout's Neck, Breaking Wave
Art Institute of Chicago
turbulent sea surface
Gustave Courbet · The Sea
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
turbulent waves
Gustave Courbet · Marine: The Waterspout
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
turbulent sea surface
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919) · Seascape
Art Institute of Chicago
calm water reflecting sky and trees
Charles-François Daubigny · The Banks of the Oise
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
turbulent waves of the Red Sea
After Titian (Italian, c. 1488-1576) · The Submersion of Pharaoh's Army in the Red Sea
Art Institute of Chicago
Blue water of the Bay of Marseille
Paul Cezanne (French, 1839–1906) · The Bay of Marseille, Seen from L'Estaque
Art Institute of Chicago
Grand Horseshoe Falls
Thomas Cole (American, born England, 1801–1848) · Distant View of Niagara Falls
Art Institute of Chicago
breaking wave crest and spray
Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾 北斎 · Fishing Boats at Choshi in Shimosa (Soshu Choshi) from the series "One Thousand Pictures of the Ocean (Chie no umi)"
Art Institute of Chicago
reflecting water surface
Joseph Mallord William Turner · Venice, from the Porch of Madonna della Salute
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
waterfall flowing from cave
Gustave Courbet · The Source of the Loue
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
rapids surface
Winslow Homer · The Rapids, Hudson River, Adirondacks
Art Institute of Chicago
Swirling waves of the Red Sea
After Titian (Italian, c. 1488-1576) · The Submersion of Pharaoh's Army in the Red Sea
Art Institute of Chicago
forest stream in the foreground
Jacob van Ruisdael · The Forest Stream
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
turbulent sea surface
George Inness (American, 1825–1894) · A Marine
Art Institute of Chicago
turbulent waves of the Red Sea
After Titian (Italian, c. 1488-1576) · The Submersion of Pharaoh's Army in the Red Sea
Art Institute of Chicago
surface of the Seine
Homer Dodge Martin · On the Seine
Art Institute of Chicago
Crashing sea spray
Winslow Homer (American, 1836–1910) · Coast of Maine
Art Institute of Chicago
calm surface of the pond
Childe Hassam (American, 1859–1935) · The Little Pond, Appledore
Art Institute of Chicago
surface of the Thames and reflections
Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926) · Waterloo Bridge, Gray Weather
Art Institute of Chicago
sunset reflection in pond
George Inness (American, 1825–1894) · Landscape, Sunset
Art Institute of Chicago