SARAH CASH:

It’s really a very simple composition. We have sky, ocean, sailboat, figures, bell buoy.

NARRATOR:

But the painting may not be as calm, and placid, and beautiful as we first assume when we look at it.

Sarah Cash, associate curator of American and British paintings.

SARAH CASH:

For example, the figures on the sailboat are seemingly independent of each other. Not focused on each other. The gaze of each of those sailors is on the bell buoy, suggesting that they’re very concerned that the bell buoy may present to them some kind of danger. The feathery clouds in the blue sky look to our eye just beautiful, and calm, and enjoyable, but, in fact, they can often foretell a coming storm or changing weather.

NARRATOR:

So do the rolling waves—the “groundswell” of the painting’s title—is there a hidden meaning here? Hopper painted this work in 1939, the year a hurricane swept through New England, leaving behind a path of destruction and killing hundreds—but that wasn’t all.

SARAH CASH:

Hopper painted Ground Swell from August of 1939 to September 15th of 1939—exactly the time when news of World War II was broadcast. So, it is entirely possible, that the bell buoy may serve a dual purpose in this painting. It may make us think of dangerous weather; but perhaps it symbolizes in at least a subtle way the coming of World War II.