Summer Night 1890

Winslow Homer painted *Summer Night* with oil on canvas, and it now resides at the Musée d'Orsay. The painting strikes us with its strong horizontal composition, divided into the dark, brooding sky above and the illuminated, churning sea below. Two women are caught in a tender embrace, their figures set against this dramatic backdrop. A group of onlookers sit in shadow to the right, their forms ambiguous. Homer masterfully uses light to create a sense of depth and emotional intensity. The moonlit ocean, rendered with energetic brushstrokes, contrasts with the smooth, almost porcelain-like skin of the women. This contrast creates a tension between the observed and the felt. The visible and the concealed. Consider how the painting's formal structure—its balance of dark and light, its horizontal orientation, and its arrangement of figures—contributes to its enigmatic power. The painting invites us not just to see, but to interpret and reimagine the meanings it may hold.