Palm Tree, Nassau

Winslow Homer

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This watercolor, composed vertically to accentuate the towering height of the central palm, visualizes the approach of circular storm clouds. Wind whirls around the tree, whose branches bend to the right. Conversely, the red flag in the background—raised by the lighthouse keeper to signal a coming hurricane or squall—blows in the opposite direction. By picturing these contrary winds, Homer contemplates the types of complex meteorological effects he would later thematize in The Gulf Stream (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 06.1234).

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art