Right and Left

Name: Right and Left
Brand: Winslow Homer
SKU: right-and-left
Price: 479 USD
Availability: InStock

Winslow Homer

Item Number: 30547

$

$785

Save $306

Winslow Homer paints two ducks captured at the exact moment of being hit by a hunter's two-barrel shotgun blast — the birds frozen in flight against a pale grey sea horizon. The hunter is visible only...

Full Description

Choose your size

Choose your framing option

Choose Guide

Popular

✈️ Free Worldwide Shipping & Production Times
Total Estimated Delivery: 17–34 Business Days

Since this is a 100% hand-painted artwork made to order, delivery takes a bit longer than mass-produced prints. Here is the exact breakdown:

Processing (7–14 Business Days): Our artists craft and hand-paint your piece. High-quality oil paintings require time for layers to dry properly to ensure they arrive in perfect condition.

Shipping Transit (10–20 Business Days, Worldwide): Once your painting passes quality control, it is handed over to our reliable shipping partners.

Customs Note: International orders may be subject to import duties/taxes, which are the buyer's responsibility.
🛡️ 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee & Returns
We want your purchase experience to be as easy as possible! You have 30 days after receiving your item to request a return.

Standard Artworks: Eligible for return within 30 days (must be new, unused, and in original packaging). For "change of mind" returns, the buyer covers return shipping costs. We do not charge any restocking fees.

Damaged or Defective Items: If your art arrives damaged, contact us immediately. We will offer a free replacement or a full refund and cover any return shipping costs.

Custom & Personalized Orders: Due to their unique nature, portraits and custom-modified artworks are final sale and cannot be returned unless they arrive damaged.

Cancellations: You may cancel your order for free within 24 hours of purchase.

To start a return, simply contact us at info@tryartwork.com.
🎨 100% Hand-Painted Oil Art

This is NOT a print. You are purchasing a genuine, hand-painted oil reproduction created by a skilled artist.

We use museum-quality canvas and rich oil paints to capture the texture, depth, and soul of the original masterpiece. Every brushstroke is applied by hand, making your artwork truly unique.

Our benefits

100% Hand-Painted Oil
Free Worldwide Shipping
Museum-Quality Standards

Features “Right and Left” by Winslow Homer

Overview
Author	Winslow Homer

Did you see an error in the description or specifications? Let us know about it!

Report an error

Description “Right and Left” by Winslow Homer

Winslow Homer paints two ducks captured at the exact moment of being hit by a hunter's two-barrel shotgun blast — the birds frozen in flight against a pale grey sea horizon. The hunter is visible only as a small distant figure behind one of the birds, his shotgun firing. The colour is held to warm brown of the ducks, cool grey of the sea and a thin band of pale sky.

The painting belongs to Homer's late Prouts Neck work and is one of his most discussed canvases. The framing — birds caught in the same instant of motion and death — was new for marine painting in 1909 and influenced later twentieth-century treatment of similar subjects.

As a reproduction oil painting on canvas, the cool grey of the sea and the warm brown of the birds depend on real paint to keep their contrast. The picture suits a long horizontal wall in a study, a den, a hallway near a coat rack, or a sitting room with warm wood. A dark wood frame or a slim matte black profile is the most coherent pairing.

Collector's Guide PDF “Right and Left” by Winslow Homer

Right and Left — Collector's Guide (PDF)

Reviews “Right and Left” by Winslow Homer

Add your review

Q/A “Right and Left” by Winslow Homer

Experts answer questions

Add your questions

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Winslow Homer depict in Right and Left?

The painting shows the dramatic moment when two ducks — a goldeneye and possibly a bufflehead — are shot simultaneously, their bodies mid-fall against the grey-green winter sea, a wisp of gunsmoke rising from the distant boat below. The title refers to a shot from both barrels of a shotgun, but the image transcends its hunting context to become a profound meditation on sudden death and the vulnerability of living creatures.
What are the visual and technical qualities of Right and Left?

Homer uses an extraordinary composition — the birds falling against the open sea, viewed from a low angle that puts the viewer almost at water level — to create a painting of unsettling spatial ambiguity and emotional complexity. The winter sea is painted in a palette of cold grey-greens and blue-greys, and the falling birds are observed with scientific accuracy in their postures of death. The whole painting has a quality of frozen time — the instant of death held permanently at the moment of its occurrence.
What is the historical significance of Right and Left?

Painted in 1909, one year before Homer's death, Right and Left is his last great oil painting and is widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of American art. It now hangs in the National Gallery of Art in Washington. The painting's complex spatial construction, its emotional ambivalence, and its combination of sporting subject with philosophical meditation on death have given it an enduring fascination that places it among the most discussed and admired works in the American tradition.
How does a print of Right and Left work as wall art?

The painting's dramatic composition, its cold winter sea palette, and its quality of frozen, philosophical intensity create a powerful and thought-provoking presence in any space. It suits a living room, study, or library where its formal boldness and conceptual depth can be properly appreciated. As Homer's final great statement, it carries an additional biographical weight that makes it one of the most historically resonant images in American painting.

Additional Information “Right and Left” by Winslow Homer

“Homer painted death from death's viewpoint.” Lloyd Goodrich

“We become the hunted in this final vision.” Nicolai Cikovsky Jr.

“The ducks fall into eternity.” Philip Beam

“Homer's last word on life and death.” Franklin Kelly

“The perspective reverses hunter and prey.” Elizabeth Johns

#1. Final Major Work. This was one of Homer's last major paintings before his death.

#2. Hunting Scene. The title refers to a hunter firing both barrels at two ducks.

#3. Viewer Perspective. We see the scene from the ducks' viewpoint at the moment of death.

#4. Life and Death. The painting meditates on mortality through the hunting metaphor.

#5. Radical Composition. The unusual perspective was revolutionary for its time.

The composition is unusual: two ducks in flight fill the foreground at very close range, almost at eye level, while a distant gunner and his boat sit far below on a dark grey sea. The lead duck is caught mid-shot, wings spread; the second behind it is alert and pulling away. The palette is restricted to greys, browns, and white, with a small punch of orange from the gun's muzzle flash. Brushwork is firm in the birds' bodies, looser in the water and sky. The viewpoint puts the viewer level with the ducks, not above them.

The horizontal format and restrained palette suit a study, library, hunting lodge, dining room, or any traditional interior where a strong narrative scene is welcome. It pairs well with dark wood paneling, leather chairs, brass, and warm ambient lighting. The painting reads from a moderate distance — give it room. Avoid bright modern interiors with high reflectivity; the muted palette wants soft warm light.

The painter focuses on the birds first — their wing shapes, the angle of the lead duck's body, the alert turn of the second. The water below is built with long horizontal strokes in cool grey, kept soft enough to suggest distance. The distant gunner is barely more than a silhouette and a tiny flash of orange — placement and scale do the work. Hand-painted oil on canvas captures the directness Homer is known for, with the brushwork visible but never showy.