Frank Brangwyn (1867-1956), Timber-Brig, Sandwich (1886)

In Timber-Brig, Sandwich, Brangwyn creates a hazy scene of ships, timber, and a dock. The image he has created reminds the viewer of impressionism, much as Conrad’s Heart of Darkness reminds the reader of impressionist works. Brangwyn was a seaman himself, as Conrad, and often used sea life as his subject. During this time, active colonization of the African Congo was occurring, leaving a deep wound on the minds of many artists that witnessed it. Conrad was evidently influenced by the horrors he saw there. The song, “Home! Sweet Home!”, depicts the attitude that many felt towards their home countries, and many colonizers believed they were gaining land for the good of their home country. The image below is of Henry Morton Stanley, who in the 1870s played a key role in the colonization of Africa, and whose goal was to, as he said himself, “pour the civilization of Europe into the barbarism of Africa.”

“We felt meditative, and fit for nothing but placid staring. The day was ending in a serenity of still exquisite brilliance. The water shone pacifically; the sky, without a speck, was a benign immensity of unstained light; the very mist of the Essex marshes was like a gauzy and radiant fabric, hung from the wooded rises inland, and draping the low shores in diaphanous folds. Only the gloom to the west, brooding over the upper reaches, became more somber every minute, as if angered by the approach of the sun.”

Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness