The End of the Day, Adirondacks

Winslow Homer

Transparent watercolor, with traces of opaque watercolor, rewetting, blotting, and scraping, over traces of graphite, on moderately thick, rough-textured, ivory wove paper

Art Institute of Chicago

The End of the Day, Adirondacks is a watercolor by Winslow Homer depicting figures at rest in the wilderness of upstate New York, evoking the quiet close of a day spent hunting or fishing in the North Woods. Executed in transparent watercolor with traces of opaque watercolor, rewetting, blotting, and scraping over graphite on ivory wove paper, the work exemplifies the technical mastery and tonal richness that distinguish Homer's Adirondack series. Homer, one of the foremost American painters of the nineteenth century, made more than twenty visits to the Adirondack Mountains, where his immersion in the landscape produced roughly a hundred watercolors of exceptional quality. The painting belongs to a celebrated body of work rooted in Homer's deep engagement with the American wilderness, reflecting his broader artistic preoccupation with the relationship between human figures and the natural world.