Since the mid-1700s, artists have looked towards the sea as a constant source of inspiration for their work. Some artists were drawn to wild, solitary, remote from what the poet, Edward Thomas called ‘the parochialism of humanity’, and wide open places, and others to flotsam and jetsam found on the beach.

Many of the artists in this exhibition identified themselves with a particular stretch of the shoreline, a particular viewpoint from the edge of the sea, and in painting it, they tended to shape anew the way we see it.

Artists featured in this Curation: Joan Kathleen Harding Eardley (1921–1963), Samuel John Peploe (1871–1935), William McTaggart (1835–1910), Sylvia Wishart (1936–2008), Will Maclean (b.1941), Tristram Paul Hillier (1905–1983), Edward Alexander Wadsworth (1889–1949), Christopher Wood (1901–1930), Alfred Wallis (1855–1942), Martin Rayner (1947–2004), and 3 more See all

16 artworks

Storyline Album Showcase

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Winter Sea IV 1958
Joan Kathleen Harding Eardley (1921–1963)
Oil on board
H 53.4 x W 78.8 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

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High Tide, a Winter Afternoon 1961
Joan Kathleen Harding Eardley (1921–1963)
Oil on hardboard
H 117 x W 235.7 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

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Image credit: Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

Iona, Grey Day 1927
Samuel John Peploe (1871–1935)
Oil on canvas
H 50.8 x W 61.3 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

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Image credit: Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

Blue Sea, Iona 1927
Samuel John Peploe (1871–1935)
Oil on canvas
H 51 x W 61.3 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

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Image credit: Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

Stormy Weather, Iona c.1929
Samuel John Peploe (1871–1935)
Oil on canvas
H 51.2 x W 61 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

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Image credit: Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

The White Calm, Ailsa Craig from Port an Righ 1901
William McTaggart (1835–1910)
Oil on canvas
H 119.9 x W 156.2 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

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Bird's Eye View of a Beach c.1976
Sylvia Wishart (1936–2008)
Oil on board
H 101.4 x W 126.8 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

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Leviathan – Elegy 1982
Will Maclean (b.1941)
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

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The Slipway at Peniche, Portugal 1948
Tristram Paul Hillier (1905–1983)
Oil on canvas
H 64.3 x W 95.3 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

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Image credit: Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

Visibility Moderate 1934
Edward Alexander Wadsworth (1889–1949)
Tempera on panel
H 63.8 x W 89 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

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Image credit: Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

The Quay, Dieppe, France 1929
Christopher Wood (1901–1930)
Oil on board
H 41.5 x W 56.2 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

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Image credit: Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

Three Boats off the Shore
Alfred Wallis (1855–1942)
Oil on cardboard
H 35.1 x W 47 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

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Mare Solemnis 1989
Martin Rayner (1947–2004)
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

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Image credit: Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

The Beach, Largo, Fife, at Low Tide
George Leslie Hunter (1877–1931)
Oil on board
H 22 x W 30.1 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

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On the Beach, Étaples, France c.1905–1906
John Duncan Fergusson (1874–1961)
Oil on board
H 18.7 x W 24.1 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

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Image credit: Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

Scheveningen Sands 1884
Alfred Emile Léopold Joseph Victor Stevens (1823–1906)
Oil on canvas
H 27.2 x W 35.2 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

View all 13

Tristram Paul Hillier (1905–1983)
John Duncan Fergusson (1874–1961)
Alfred Emile Léopold Joseph Victor Stevens (1823–1906)
Edward Alexander Wadsworth (1889–1949)
Sylvia Wishart (1936–2008)
Will Maclean (b.1941)
Martin Rayner (1947–2004)
Alfred Wallis (1855–1942)
Christopher Wood (1901–1930)
Joan Kathleen Harding Eardley (1921–1963)
View all 13

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Shoreline

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