Breezing Up (A Fair Wind)

A man and three boys lean into the wind aboard a small catboat heeling over the choppy blue swells, spray flying, sails taut, sunlight breaking through scattered clouds. Winslow Homer charges the scene with fresh air, motion, and buoyant optimism, the boat surging toward open water. Now in Washington's National Gallery, Breezing Up was painted in the year of the nation's centennial and reads as an image of America's hopeful future - youth and a steady hand riding a fair wind out to sea, vigor and promise caught in salt spray and sunlight.