Please help me find more art with a surreal, ocean-related motif.

November 19, 2010 2:58 PM

I'm looking for a specific kind of art involving people facing the sea...examples inside.

This is kind of hard to describe. I've now come across two paintings (here and here) from two different artists, periods, and styles but with a nearly identical motif: A man, scaled to look quite small in comparison to his surroundings, pensively staring out on the ocean. It would be neat to find similar art and do a clustering of some kind. Any help is appreciated!

posted by lovableiago to media & arts (9 answers total)

If I remember my art history class correctly, Dutch and Flemish painters liked to paint landscapes in that general proportion (big sky, small people).
posted by Gilbert at 3:12 PM on November 19, 2010

Gustave Courbet painted several atmospheric seascapes: here's one with a lone figure gazing out to sea.
posted by misteraitch at 3:13 PM on November 19, 2010

And perhaps Böcklin's Villa By The Sea or, less akin to your examples, Kupka's The Wave.
posted by misteraitch at 3:46 PM on November 19, 2010

Dali
posted by AlliKat75 at 3:47 PM on November 19, 2010

forgot the link...damn this technology....
posted by AlliKat75 at 3:48 PM on November 19, 2010

Not technically a painting, but there's the evocative final image from The Quiet Earth. Here's a simpler (but more painterly) version.
posted by Rhaomi at 4:05 PM on November 19, 2010

Some of Quint Buchholz's work has this kind of conceit.
posted by Emilyisnow at 4:38 PM on November 19, 2010

Greg Noll sizing up Pipeline.
posted by ldenneau at 4:43 PM on November 19, 2010

Probably some of Lowry's seascapes fit this description
posted by runincircles at 5:04 PM on November 19, 2010