 |
| James McNeill Whistler Violet and Silver: The Deep Sea 1893 oil on canvas Art Institute of Chicago |
 |
| Joseph Mallord William Turner The Campo Santo, Venice 1842 oil on canvas Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio |
 |
| Giandomenico Tiepolo Ship in a Storm (Christ and Apostles on the Sea of Galilee) before 1804 drawing Musée du Louvre |
 |
| Kelly Thielen Untitled 2001 C-print Art Institute of Chicago |
 |
| Joaquín Sorolla The Granddaughter 1908 oil on canvas Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio |
 |
| Jacob Knyff Capriccio with Ships off an Italian Port ca. 1675-80 oil on canvas National Maritime Museum, London |
 |
| Marie-Victoire Jacquotot after François Gérard Corinna at Cape Misenum (scene from the novel by Madame de Staël) 1825 porcelain plaque Musée du Louvre |
 |
| Robert Hope A Pageant of the Sea ca. 1929 oil on canvas Perth and Kinross Council |
 |
| Willem van der Hagen Landing of King William of Glorious Memory at Carrickfergus in 1690 ca. 1728 oil on canvas Ulster Museum, Belfast |
 |
| Themistocles von Eckenbrecher Sieben Schwestern am Geirangerfjord 1915 oil on canvas private collection |
 |
| Adriaen van Diest Battle of Lowestoft ca. 1670 oil on canvas Denver Art Museum |
 |
| Edward William Cooke The 'Cleopatra' Cylinder Vessel 1878 oil on canvas Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
 |
| Jan Brueghel the Elder Seascape with Tall Rocks ca. 1591 oil on panel Indianapolis Museum of Art |
 |
| Peter Coker Horse Island from Acheniver 1985 oil on canvas Colchester and Ipswich Museums, Essex |
 |
| Valentine Dobrée Still Life with Skull, Shell and Column ca. 1930 oil on board Burton Gallery, University of Leeds |
"It is splendid, in infinite loneliness by the shore of the sea under a cheerless sky, to stare at a limitless expanse of water; in part, this is due to the fact that one has gone there, that one must return, that one would like to cross over, that one cannot do so, that everything belonging to life is missing and that one hears one's own voice in the roar of the tide, in the billowing of the wind, in the passing of the clouds and in the lonely cry of the birds; in part it is due to a demand which is made by the heart and by the withdrawal of nature. That is impossible before this painting, however, and that which I should have found in the painting I could find only between myself and the painting, that is to say, a demand which the painting makes on me but which it does not fulfill . . . "
– Clemens Brentano, from Various Emotions before a Seascape of Friedrich (1826), translated by Jason Gaiger (2000)