The Sea, Maine

John Marin

1921

Watercolor and charcoal on paper

Minneapolis Institute of Art

A watercolor and charcoal painting depicts a rocky coastline with the sea on the left and trees on a hill to the right. The composition is dynamic with bold brushstrokes. A watercolor and charcoal painting depicts a rocky coastline with the sea on the left and trees on a hill to the right. The composition is dynamic with bold brushstrokes. In establishing his modernist style, John Marin frequently turned to the untamed landscape for his subjects, especially the landscape of Maine. The New Yorker visited Maine every year, spending the summer of 1921 in Stonington, a picturesque fishing village on the southern shore of Deer Isle, one of the many islands along Maine’s coast. The Sea, Maine is a plein-air interpretation of the island’s rugged shoreline of granite outcroppings and windswept pine and spruc