Hurricane, Bahamas

Winslow Homer

Watercolor and graphite on off-white wove paper

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Hurricane, Bahamas is a watercolor and graphite work produced by Winslow Homer during his second visit to the Bahamas in the winter of 1898–99. The composition depicts a scene of impending tropical violence: dark clouds threaten overhead while several tall palm trees are lashed by violent winds, and a Red Ensign—the flag flown by British ships—is visible at bottom center, subtly acknowledging the archipelago's status as a British Crown colony. Homer's treatment of inclement weather here distinguishes the work from the more idyllic tropical images he produced during his earlier Bahamian visit in 1884–85, reflecting his deepening engagement with the raw forces of nature. The work is recognized as an important precursor to his monumental oil painting The Gulf Stream (1899), situating it within one of the most significant thematic sequences of his late career.