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The Wreck
1901
Harrington Fitzgerald
Born: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1847
Died: Williamstown, Pennsylvania 1930
oil on wood
26 3/4 x 41 in. (68.1 x 104.0 cm)
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Gift of the artist
1913.6.1
Smithsonian American Art Museum
3rd Floor, Luce Foundation Center
The Wreck shows a lifeboat pulling away from a sinking ship, with a storm approaching from the left. Although steamships in the nineteenth century made sea travel more predictable, the sheer power and vastness of the ocean remained a source of fascination for many artists. This piece evokes adventure and danger as the men struggle to escape the doomed ship.
For more information about this work visit the Luce Foundation Center.
Keywords
Disaster - shipwreck
Figure(s) in exterior - water
Waterscape - boat
Waterscape - sea
Waterscape - weather - storm
painting
paint - oil
wood
About Harrington Fitzgerald
Born: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1847 Died: Williamstown, Pennsylvania 1930
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