The Sea and Sand

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) · 1884

The Sea and Sand is one of the simplest and most abstract of the St. Ives paintings. Whistler began by covering his panel with an unusual dark blue ground. Probably working from the top of the panel down, he used broad horizontal strokes of gray to establish the sky. In the foreground, broader horizontal bands of a browner pigment establish the beach. A few narrow strokes of a slightly bluish white create the frothing caps of the breaking waves. The three main horizontal bands are secured by a few shorter verticals that indicate people and by the squat oval of Whistler's famous butterfly monogram.