The End of the Day, Adirondacks

The End of the Day, Adirondacks — Winslow Homer. 1890.

Medium: Transparent watercolor, with traces of opaque watercolor, rewetting, blotting, and scraping, over traces of graphite, on moderately thick, rough-textured, ivory wove paper. Dimensions: 35.4 × 50.8 cm (13 15/16 × 20 in.).

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

The End of the Day, Adirondacks captures a fisherman’s introspective moment. Homer rendered the light from the setting sun with pale pink and orange washes, seen in the sky and reflected in the water. Foliage in the background and at the right side of the image is depicted abstractly, adding to the scene’s hazy atmosphere. This area shows signs of overwork, where Homer repeatedly removed and added color as he sought to soften the contours of the landscape, as if enveloped in the mist of evening. Characteristic of the artist’s working methods, he did not try to obscure the passage and chose to let it stand.

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.