The Herring Net

Year	1885
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	76.5 × 122.9 cm
Type	painting

Homer's powerful depiction of two fishermen hauling a net full of herring from a grey Atlantic sea is one of the masterworks of American painting. The figures strain against the weight of the catch, the boat rises on a wave, and the sheer drama of physical labour against the sea is rendered with a monumentality that places Homer among the great realists.