Albert Pinkham Ryder

Albert Pinkham Ryder painted moonlit seas, lonely boats and scenes from poetry and opera, in dark, glowing colour. His pictures are simplified, dreamlike and full of mood.

Born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, a whaling port, he studied at the National Academy of Design in New York and lived in the city for most of his life. He worked slowly, building up layers of paint and varnish over many years, which means his original paintings have often darkened and cracked. He produced fewer than two hundred works. Jonah and The Flying Dutchman are in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and Siegfried and the Rhine Maidens is in the National Gallery of Art.

Christ Appearing to Mary and At the Ford show his simple, powerful shapes.