#sea

From what I read, he did a whole series like this — women in white, blazing sun, water behind — and collectors couldn't get enough of them at the time.

According to Wikipedia it stands on the riverbank in Lisbon where the ships actually set off for India and beyond, and it was put up to celebrate that whole age of sailing out to explore and trade — or to conquer, depending on who's telling it.

The story goes that he spent years painting quiet, brownish landscapes, then late in life switched almost overnight to thick, crusted paint like this — and apparently it baffled the people who'd been happily buying the brown ones.