From May 29 to October 3, the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts, will feature “In American Waters,” a painting exhibition that reframes and expands our understanding of American culture and environment by looking at the sea.

For over 200 years, American artists have been inspired to capture the beauty, violence, poetry and transformative power of the sea. The exhibition features a diverse range of modern and historical artists, including Georgia O’Keeffe, Amy Sherald, Kay WalkingStick, Norman Rockwell, Hale Woodruff, Paul Cadmus, Thomas Hart Benton, Jacob Lawrence, Valerie Hegarty, Stuart Davis and many others.

“As this exhibition vigorously asserts, marine painting is so much more than ship portraits,” said Dan Finamore, PEM’s associate director. “Through more than 90 works, we can trace changing attitudes about the symbolic and emotional resonance of the sea in America and see how contemporary perspectives are informed by marine traditions.”

“No matter where we live, the sea shapes all of our lives and continues to inspire some of the most exciting artists working today.”

Learn more at: www.pem.org.