Winslow Homer

In this Houghton Farm subject, Homer combined some of his watercolor paint with zinc white to create opaque watercolor, applying it in layers atop the background field to create the effect of sun reflecting off the grass. Blue mixed with white suggests the sky shining through the trees, while specks of white and color make up the profusion of daisies dancing in the sunlight.

Homer’s friendship with Lawson Valentine in the 1870s led to repeated visits to the latter’s expansive rural property, Houghton Farm, in upstate New York. Homer’s works from the farm-four of which are on this wall-evoke a rural childhood idyll.

Frequent visits to Houghton Farm, which belonged to a family friend, inspired Girl and Daisies, Boy and Horse, and Girl and Sheep between the years 1876 and 1879. Homer's focus on farm life and childhood in this decade has been attributed to a widespread wave of post-Civil War nostalgia for an agrarian past in the face of a growing urban immigrant population and a restive labor force.