The Herring Net

Museum record 25865: The Herring Net by Winslow Homer. A verified entry point for discovery.

What to notice

For The Herring Net (record 25865), start with modern, expressive, atmospheric. Compare the focal subject, edge treatment, and atmosphere before moving on.

Discover

Long inspired by the sea, Winslow Homer spent time in 1881 in a fishing community in Tynemouth, England. The experience fundamentally changed his life and work. His paintings thereafter focused almost exclusively on humankind’s age-old contest with nature. In The Herring Net , executed in Prouts Neck, Maine, Homer depicted the heroic efforts of fishermen at their daily work. In a small dory, one figure hauls in glistening herring, while the other, possibly a boy, unloads the catch. Laboring far from the…