Throughout his career Claude Monet depicted France’s English Channel coastline.
In works such as Rising Tide at Porville / Marée montante à Pourville, he combined keen observation with Impressionism’s subjective use of color and light effects.
Henrik Willem Mesdag also painted churning waters, of the nearby North Sea.
Here, a small ship with wind-torn sails is tossed by massive, white-capped waves.
The broad expanse of water, almost matching the tone of the sky, dramatizes nature’s mighty power.
Claude Monet | Rising Tide at Pourville (Marée montante à Pourville), 1882 | Brooklyn Museum