Sea Movement–Green and Blue

Sea Movement–Green and Blue — John Marin. 1923.

Medium: Watercolor with wiping, and fabricated charcoal, over graphite, on thick, slightly textured, off-white wove paper (all edges trimmed), hinged to wood-pulp board, faced with cream paper, gilt with silver leaf, in original frame. Dimensions: 42.9 × 52.1 cm (16 15/16 × 20 9/16 in.).

Collection record: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

Mark Island, Maine, notable for its lighthouse, signals the passage from Penobscot Bay to Stonington Harbor. For this watercolor, Marin started his sketch of the island in graphite rather than charcoal, allowing for greater precision. Yet he playfully set it against the mountainous profile of Mount Desert, a view that could not in reality have been seen from the same vantage point. Marin employed a particularly expressionistic handling of watercolor here: contours are jagged and black, and the paint is heavily manipulated. An electric blue sky, animated by circular wiping, is energized by the single line of yellow marking the contour of the island. The artist’s passionate orchestration of movement, color, and mood map the fluctuation of a turbulent sea, while the reflective silver frame and mount contribute to the sense of dynamism and excitement.

Description: © Art Institute of Chicago, original record, CC BY 4.0. HTML formatting removed; wording retained. Other artwork metadata: CC0.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.