This painting shows a landscape with a village seen from above. The view includes red rooftops and a white church with dome-shaped structures. In the background, there are distant mountains in shades of purple, blue, and red. There are dark green trees on the left, in front of what looks like a pale body of water. Closest to us is a strip of green that suggests a hilltop. The sky above is cloudy, with shades of gray and cream. The brushstrokes in the painting are thick and fluid.

View of Santiago de Cuba

Winslow Homer

This painting shows a landscape with a village seen from above. The view includes red rooftops and a white church with dome-shaped structures. In the background, there are distant mountains in shades of purple, blue, and red. There are dark green trees on the left, in front of what looks like a pale body of water. Closest to us is a strip of green that suggests a hilltop. The sky above is cloudy, with shades of gray and cream. The brushstrokes in the painting are thick and fluid.

Colors in this work

Details

Artist
Winslow Homer
Date
1885
Dimensions
sheet: 27.3 × 50.5 cm (10 3/4 × 19 7/8 in.)
Department
CG-W
Holding institution
National Gallery of Art
Image provider
national-gallery-of-art
License
CC0-1.0
Credit
Bequest of Julia B. Engel

Art Genome Taxonomy

10 tags

Subject Matter

  • The title identifies Santiago de Cuba, and the image visibly depicts a dense settlement viewed across rooftops and architectural structures.

  • Landscapes Both · 99%

    The museum describes the work as a landscape with a village seen from above, and the image visibly includes vegetation, mountains, sky, and a built middle ground.

  • Atmospheric Landscapes Visual · 95%

    Softened mountain contours, pale translucent washes, and atmospheric transitions across the horizon give the depicted landscape a strongly atmospheric character.

  • Haze Visual · 92%

    The distant mountains and parts of the settlement are visibly softened and partially veiled by atmospheric effects.

Visual Qualities

  • Earth Tones Visual · 94%

    Muted gray, ocher, dusty red, pale cream, green, and blue-violet passages dominate the image, creating an overall earth-toned palette.

Medium and Techniques

  • Drawing Metadata · 100%

    The museum classification is drawing, and the recorded medium includes watercolor, pen and black ink, and graphite.

  • Watercolor Metadata · 100%

    The recorded medium is watercolor and pen and black ink over graphite on wove paper.

  • Work on Paper Metadata · 100%

    The support is explicitly identified as wove paper.

Time Periods

Geographic Regions

  • The title locates the depicted scene in Cuba, and the image shows a Caribbean urban landscape with tropical vegetation, low-rise buildings, and distant mountains.

Source & rights

Winslow Homer. View of Santiago de Cuba. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.

High-resolution sources