Seascape: Sunset

1861

Martin Johnson Heade American, 1819-1904

Not On View

Image Only Image + Details All Images High Resolution TIFF Metadata

About the Artwork

Please note: This section is empty
Markings

Please note: This section is empty

This section contains information about signatures, inscriptions and/or markings an object may have.
Provenance

Please note: This section is empty

Provenance is a record of an object's ownership. We are continually researching and updating this information to show a more accurate record and to ensure that this object was ethically and legally obtained.

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:
Provenance page
Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Suggest Feedback
Published References

Please note: This section is empty

We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Suggest Feedback
Catalogue Raisonné

Please note: This section is empty

A catalogue raisonné is an annotated listing of artworks created by an artist across different media.
Credit Line for Reproduction

Please note: This section is empty

The credit line includes information about the object, such as the artist, title, date, and medium. Also listed is its ownership, the manner in which it was acquired, and its accession number. This information must be cited alongside the object whenever it is shown or reproduced.
Audio Transcript

Please note: This section is empty

About the Artwork

Heade’s depictions of the sea are characteristically disquieting, with harsh, cold light, jutting rocks, and dark, empty water. This painting is a prime example in a series of coastal views painted by Heade in the 1860s, all apparently stimulated by the Rhode Island coast. Intent on conveying mood and capturing the fleeting, often hostile elements of nature, Heade sacrificed realistic representation, while elongating form, distorting perspective, and exaggerating color contrasts. The soft ribbons of the clouds, chosen to reinforce the horizontal rhythms of the composition, are a signature of Heade’s work. The incoming waves, frozen in time at the peak of cresting, contribute to the surreal effect.

Title Seascape: Sunset

Artwork Date 1861

Artist Martin Johnson Heade

Life Dates 1819-1904

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. American

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. ----------

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Unframed: 26 × 44 inches (66 × 111.8 cm) Framed: 39 1/4 × 57 1/4 × 4 1/2 inches (99.7 × 145.4 × 11.4 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department American Art before 1950

Credit Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 1995.26

Markings

Signed Signed and dated, lower left, under rocks: M.J. Heade | 1861

Inscriptions Original colorman stencil, on verso: Vose & Jenckes | dealers in artist materials, | frames, engravers & co. | Prov. RI

Provenance

1959, Maxim Karolik collection (Newport, Rhode Island, USA).
Mr. J. Watson Webb.
his wife, Electra Havemeyer Webb.
Shelburne Museum (Shelburne, Vermont, USA).
1991-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

Suggest Feedback

Published References

Boston.Williams & Everett, 1861. [possibly this picture]

National Academy of Design. New York, 1861, no. 227. [as Marine Sunset]

New York Daily Tribune. (March 27, 1861): p. 8.

New York World. (April 6, 1861): p. 3.

Stebbins, T.E., Jr. The Life and Works of Martin Johnson Heade. New Haven, 1975, p. 220, no. 43 (ill.).

Muller, N.C. Paintings and Drawings at the Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, Vermont. Exh. cat., Shelburne Museum. Shelburne, VT, 1976, p. 74, no. 158 (ill.).

The Hudson River School: Congenial Observations. Exh. cat., Alexander Gallery. New York, 1987, no. 11 (ill.).

Cumming, Robert. Art: A Field Guide. New York, 2001, p. 115 (ill.).

Kindly share your feedback or any additional information, as this record is still a work in progress and may need further refinement.

Suggest Feedback

Catalogue Raisoneé

Please note: This section is empty

Credit Line for Reproduction

Martin Johnson Heade, Seascape: Sunset, 1861, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund, 1995.26.