Nearly 50 watercolors by Winslow Homer arrive at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston on Sunday, offering the only chance in the country to see this particular collection outside of Boston. The exhibition, titled Of Light and Air: Winslow Homer in Watercolor, runs from November 1, 2026, through February 7, 2027, on Level 2 of the Law Building.
The show is on view at the MFAH from November 1, 2026, through February 7, 2027, according to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The museum describes itself as the exhibition's only travel venue after the show was organized by and debuted at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in fall 2025.
The exhibition presents nearly 50 watercolors alongside selected oils, drawings and prints. It traces Homer's development from a childhood drawing all the way to his final canvas. The works span the rugged Maine coast, New York's Adirondack Mountains, the English seashore and the sunlit Caribbean, per the museum.
From Boston Print Shop to Prouts Neck
Homer was born in Boston and began an apprenticeship at around age 17 at one of the city's leading print shops, where he learned composition and draftsmanship, the MFAH notes. He later worked as an artist correspondent during the Civil War, and the exhibition unfolds chronologically, beginning with the origins of his career from his early years in Boston to the front lines of the war, according to Glasstire.
From 1884 until his death in 1910, Homer lived and worked in his Prouts Neck studio in Maine, the museum says. His 1909 painting Driftwood is identified as his last watercolor.
Watercolor as a Lifelong Obsession
Homer's experimentation with ink wash introduced him to the possibilities of watercolor, Glasstire reports, and the medium became his primary focus of artistic innovation. Life on the sea, and the drama of the ocean, evolved into dominant themes in his late career, according to WBUR, which also reported that the Boston presentation brought together nearly 50 of Homer's rarely seen watercolors. Homer moved between oil and watercolor while depicting popular new leisure spaces and the lives of rural women and children, Glasstire notes.
At the MFAH, Kaylin H. Weber discussed the exhibition's gallery colors and layout. The exhibition is arranged largely chronologically and includes an opening gallery.
The Boston presentation included The Blue Boat.
A Light-Sensitive Collection, Rarely Seen
When the show first appeared in Boston, works on paper were displayed in lower light to protect against fading, since many of the watercolors are light-sensitive and had rarely been exhibited, according to The Art Newspaper. That Boston run was on view from November 2, 2025, through January 19, 2026. The Houston exhibition is scheduled for November 1, 2026, through February 7, 2027.
Houston audiences can see the exhibition beginning this weekend. For a city with no other scheduled stop on the show's itinerary, it marks a rare opportunity to see one of the largest gatherings of Homer's watercolors, spanning the length of a career that moved from Boston print shops to the rocky coast of Maine.
