A Ghostly Vision

"Who hath seen the Phantom Ship, Her lordly rise and lowly dip, Careering o'er the lonesome main…"
—Albert Pinkham Ryder, 1897

In this dynamic work, artist Alfred Pinkham Ryder interpreted a popular nineteenth-century legend about a Dutchman condemned to sail forever in a phantom ship, unless…

To get the rest of the story, join Elizabeth Broun, Smithsonian American Art Museum's director, on a virtual tour of the painting.

You can see this Ryder painting and others in The Gilded Age: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, opening September 23 at the Spencer Museum of Art,at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.

Source: Richard Murray. The Gilded Age: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (exhibition text, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1999).

Pictured: Albert Pinkham Ryder, 1847–1917, Flying Dutchman, completed by 1887, oil, 14 1/4 x 17 1/4 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Gellatly.