The Flirt – (Winslow Homer) ◄ Previous Next ►

Artist: Winslow Homer

Date: 1874

Size: 29 x 39 cm

Technique: Wood

Close to us, a young man and four boys sit or recline in a small sailboat that tips to our left on a choppy dark green sea fringed with white foam in this horizontal painting. The billowing sail extends off the top left corner of the painting. The horizon line comes about a third of the way up the composition, and wispy gray and white clouds skip across the pale blue sky. The sun skims along the scene from our right so the boys’ ruddy faces are in shadow under their hats. They wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants in shades of brown, slate blue, white, and red. The young man and boys all face our left and they lean against and into the boat as it cants up to our right. The boy nearest the sail to our left reclines across the bow. Next to him, to our left, is a boy sitting on the edge of the boat partially hidden by the sail’s mast. To the right another boy perches on the edge of the boat and holds on with both hands. The oldest sits on the floor of the boat as he maneuvers the sail with a rope. Closer to us and to our right, a younger boy sits with his bare feet pressed together in front of his bent knees on the back edge of the boat, gazing into the distance over his right shoulder as he handles the tiller. Directly beneath his bent knee the boat’s name is painted on the flat stern: “FLIRT.” The artist signed and dated the painting in dark letters in the lower left corner: “WINSLOW HOMER 1874.”