Homer was a pretty straight forward guy. The Gulf Stream from yesterday was probably more of a metaphor about him and his critics and his place in history than anything to do with race and human strife, and blaugh blaugh blaugh. You have to remember that the Impressionists were trying to take over the world. Homer's color palette was his own, though by all counts he was an impressionist. There is much said about he was a true American artist and he learned from himself rather than others. Its just not true. You can find the Millet influences and the Manet influences and Turner's watercolor palette on Homer's work at different stages.
I love this one, because the painting came out of a argument he had over a meal with John La Farge in which he stated he didn't need the impressionist colors, he could paint an entire painting with brown and blue. This reproduction is showing a little pink which I don't think is in the original. Maybe its just my monitor.
Picasso was painting like this at the very same time.
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