Ship Stranded on East Hampton Beach Thomas Moran is known for his oil paintings of the natural world. He captures nature the moment he sees it; this can, in turn, be serene but also show the dramatic and violent nature of his momentary surroundings. In the chosen compositions he illustrates, as the title suggests, a ship trapped in the turbulent and tumultuous sea. As he captured this image, he kept in mind the destructive nature of water and also the constructive nature of water. Water has the ability to allow cultures to thrive and barely survive. Water was the primary source of transportation of goods, ideas, and communications in prehistory. In his composition, Moran shows the solid and life-dependent aspect of water, as well as the fragile nature of water that has the potential to be life-threatening. Thomas Moran's Stranded Ship on East Hampton Beach shows an image of a tumultuous beach and people's interaction with the natural world. The intent of the piece is not to portray a stormy beach in realistic terms. Instead, Moran's art is the production of an artist whose intent was to translate and communicate the need for interaction between human beings through the dramatic scene. Through the basic artistic principles of selecting medium, form, and content, the audience of this piece is better equipped to understand Moran's intent in creating this work of art. Moran's oil painting titled Stranded Ship on East Hampton Beach; a ship suffering the blows of the rough tide on the beach is certainly the predominant, but not exclusive, visual element. On the left side of the composition we see the sandbar exposed due to the receding wave. In the distance, a symbol of constancy and valor stands the American flag, protected...... in the center of the card......vid. "Color psychology". Infoplease.com. Information, please. Network. March 14, 2012. "Katherine A. Strause: American Trees in Summer." UALR.edu. University of Arkansas-Little Rock. Network. March 14, 2012. .Moran, Thomas. Ship stranded on East Hampton Beach. 1895. Oil on canvas. Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston.Nguyen, Alex. "Final analysis." Final Report, Moran's Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. UMD.edu. Network. March 14, 2012. Walsh, Sarah B. “Thomas Moran's Early Landscape of Juniata Valley, Pennsylvania Acquires National Gallery of Art.” ArtfixDaily.com. National Gallery of Art, 8 October 2010. Web. 14 March. 2012. .