One of the main activities carried out by the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum concerns the organization of temporary exhibitions on topics connected to reference pieces from its collections. The project of this exhibition resting on a historical survey of the visual display of the Sea, pinpoints the fundamental topics which lead to its representations in Western Painting. The texts of the accompanying catalogue develop many of the ideas raised by exhibition theme sections. The volume includes also full reproduction of all exhibits, biographies of the artists represented, and a sea-related chronology.

Van Goyen, Lorrain, Turner, Constable, Friedrich, Courbet, Boudin, Manet, Monet, Signac, Fattori, Sorolla, Klee, De Chirico, Hopper are some of the eighty-nine authors present in the exhibition. Portuguese painting, through works by Henrique Pousão, Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso, João Vaz, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, Menez, and Nikian Skapinakis among others.