Winslow Homer is one of the greatest American artists of the 19th century. His paintings always show the relationship between man and nature. Homer is the second of three sons in the family. Born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1836, Homer grew up in Cambridge. His mother was a painter so Homer became quite interested in painting when he was very young. Supported by his family Homer started his painting career.

Winslow Homer is one of the greatest American artists of the 19th century.

His paintings always show the relationship between man and nature. Homer is the second of three sons in the family. Born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1836, Homer grew up in Cambridge. His mother was a painter so Homer became quite interested in painting when he was very young. Supported by his family Homer started his painting career. When he was 19 years old, he worked as an assistant in the trade making and preparing images for print media. During that time, he studied the lithography process. Two years later, he decided to become an independent illustrator.

For several more years he worked in Boston, drawing illustrations for stories in several newspapers and magazines. In 1859, he worked for Harper’s Weekly as an artist and began painting so seriously that he created excellent works. To improve himself, he wanted to go to Europe to learn something more about painting. However, he couldn’t go there but was required to draw Civil War paintings in American history. As a result, he went to Washington, D.C. and created several war paintings. His war paintings show the different ways that conflict affects people.

In one of the paintings, The War for the Union, Eighteen Sixty-Two – A Cavalry Charge, it shows Southern Confederate soldiers being shown being forced under their hooves, while Union soldiers hold their swords high and move with pride. There is another famous painting, Home, Sweet Home, in which Homer depicts two soldiers listening to music played by military musicians thus inspiring soldiers. The name of the song is simply “Home, Sweet Home.” These paintings brought him great success, one of his paintings – Prisoners of the Front, was exhibited at the Exposition Universelle on behalf of the United States.

Then Homer underwent a big change, he started using watercolors.

Instead of using oil paint. Homer’s decision to use watercolors has a lot to do with his other decisions. Homer had always wanted to be an independent artist so he submitted his work to magazines and focused on painting. Then Homer began his formal painting career. During this period, Homer created his finest painting —- Breezing Up. Winslow Homer died in 1910 and he is universally considered America’s greatest painter of the time. His last paintings are Right and Left. It describes the story of two ducks and a hunter.