Fisherman at stormy sea.

Fisherman at Stormy Sea, painted in 1904, confronts the elemental relationship between Skagen's fishing community and the dangerous North Sea in explicit terms. The storm at sea was one of the defining dangers of the Skagen fisherman's life — the North Sea's sudden, violent weather claimed lives and boats regularly — and Ancher returned to the subject of men contending with extreme weather throughout his career. These dramatic works exist in counterpoint to his quieter interior and calm-day beach subjects, the storm paintings acknowledging the mortal risks that undergirded the Skagen community's existence.

Ancher captures the visual chaos of a storm at sea through agitated brushwork in the sky and water, contrasting with the more defined rendering of the fisherman in the foreground. His palette in storm subjects shifts toward the grey-greens of heavy cloud and churned sea, with the human figure providing the only warm color accent.