Coastal wall art: 12 paintings of sea, sails and shore
Winslow Homer’s Maine coast, Tissot by the sea, Dutch ships in a gale and Hiroshige’s fishing boats: twelve masterworks for a coastal home or a room that misses the sea.
Coastal rooms are about light, air and the colours of the sea: soft blues and greys, sandy beiges and white. The best coastal art is not seashell clip art but the sea itself, painted by the artists who knew it best.
Here are twelve real masterpieces of shores, boats and waves, in three moods: calm shores, boats and harbours, and waves and weather. Each is shown with its colour palette, and each can be ordered as a print.
Calm shores
Summer days by the water.
1. Boy in Boat, Gloucester
Winslow Homer, Boy in Boat, Gloucester, 1880/81. Transparent watercolor, with touches of opaque watercolor and scraping, over graphite, on moderately thick, rough-textured, ivory wove paper. Art Institute of Chicago.
Winslow Homer spent the summer of 1880 at Gloucester, Massachusetts, painting the boys of the harbour in fresh, sparkling watercolours.
Sea blue and white for a bright beach house.
2. Seaside (July: Specimen of a Portrait)
James Tissot, Seaside (July: Specimen of a Portrait), 1878. Oil on fabric. Cleveland Museum of Art.
James Tissot painted Seaside in 1878, a woman in a fashionable striped dress lost in her book beside a hazy summer sea.
Soft whites and greens for a calm coastal living room.
3. Marie and Vibeke Embroidering at Home in Skagen
Peder Severin Krøyer, Marie and Vibeke Embroidering at Home in Skagen, 1898. Watercolour.
Peder Severin Krøyer painted his wife Marie and their daughter Vibeke at home in Skagen, the fishing village at the tip of Denmark where a colony of painters chased the northern light.
Soft green, cream and poppy red for a seaside home.
4. Coming Squall (Nahant Beach with a Summer Shower)
Thomas Doughty, Coming Squall (Nahant Beach with a Summer Shower), 1835. Oil on canvas mounted on cradled panel. Art Institute of Chicago.
Thomas Doughty painted Nahant Beach near Boston in 1835, in the calm moment before a summer squall.
Soft greys and blues for a coastal bedroom.
Boats and harbours
Fishing boats, sailing ships and harbour lights.
5. Fishing Boats at Tsukudajima
Utagawa Hiroshige II, Fishing Boats at Tsukudajima, 1862 (Bunkyū 2), 6th month. Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper. Harvard Art Museums.
Utagawa Hiroshige II made this view of fishing boats at Tsukudajima in Edo Bay in 1862, framing the scene with the mast of a boat close by.
Indigo and soft blue for a modern coastal room.
6. Hastings: Boats Making the Shore in a Breeze
John James Chalon, Hastings: Boats Making the Shore in a Breeze, 1819. Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
John James Chalon painted the fishing boats of Hastings racing the wind to the beach in 1819.
Grey, sand and sea green for a beach house hallway.
7. An English Galliot at Sea Running before a Strong Wind
Willem van de Velde II, An English Galliot at Sea Running before a Strong Wind, c. 1690. Oil on canvas. Harvard Art Museums.
Willem van de Velde the Younger, the greatest Dutch marine painter, worked for the English kings in his later years. He painted this galliot running before the wind around 1690.
Silver greys for a calm, nautical study.
8. Sailboat and Fourth of July Fireworks
Winslow Homer, Sailboat and Fourth of July Fireworks, 1880. Watercolor and white gouache on white wove paper. Harvard Art Museums.
Winslow Homer painted this summer night at Gloucester in 1880: a sailboat on dark water, and fireworks reflected in the bay.
Navy and warm orange, magical in a coastal bedroom.
Waves and weather
Breaking waves and windswept dunes.
9. Coast of Maine
Winslow Homer, Coast of Maine, 1893. Oil on canvas. Art Institute of Chicago.
In his last years Winslow Homer lived alone at Prouts Neck in Maine and painted the Atlantic breaking on the rocks below his studio. This is from 1893.
Deep sea green for a dramatic coastal living room.
10. Breaking Wave with Two Boulders
Arnold Böcklin, Breaking Wave with Two Boulders, by 1901.
Arnold Böcklin painted this simple study of sea and rock: two boulders catching the light as a wave breaks over them.
Blue grey and sand for a moody seaside room.
11. Casting a Mantra on the Waves
Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Casting a Mantra on the Waves, c. 1830/35. Color woodblock print; oban. Art Institute of Chicago.
Utagawa Kuniyoshi made this print around 1830 to 1835. The priest Nichiren, on his way into exile, calms a stormy sea by writing a sacred mantra on the waves.
Bold blues for a modern coastal wall.
12. A Dune Landscape with Figures in a Storm
Pieter de Molijn, A Dune Landscape with Figures in a Storm, 1635-1645. Oil on panel. Harvard Art Museums.
Pieter de Molijn painted the Dutch dunes in the 1630s and 1640s, with a low horizon and a huge sky full of weather.
Sand and sky blue for a light, airy coastal room.
Coastal pictures look best with plenty of white space around them, in pale oak, whitewashed or thin white frames. A single large seascape above a sofa or bed feels like a window to the sea; a row of three small boat pictures suits a hallway. Keep the palette soft so the room stays bright. For more, see blue wall art and art for blue walls.
Questions
What is coastal wall art?
Pictures of the sea, beaches, boats and harbours in soft blues, greys and sandy tones, made for beach houses and bright, airy rooms.
What colours suit coastal decor?
Soft blue, sea green, grey, sand, white and a touch of navy.
Which painters are best for coastal art?
Winslow Homer, the Dutch marine painters such as Willem van de Velde, the Skagen painters, and Japanese printmakers like Hiroshige and Kuniyoshi.
What frames suit coastal art?
Pale oak, whitewashed wood or simple white frames keep coastal pictures light and fresh.