Winslow Homer’s Home, Sweet Home is a glimpse at idleness in between the horrors of war.

At first glance, and at the relaxed posture of the two Union soldiers (infantrymen, according to the insignia on their hats), it almost seems like nothing is actually going on in Home, Sweet Home.But there’s music being played from the military band just behind the soldiers, their brass horns instruments poking out in the background like toothpicks. 

Across the river, the camped Confederates echo the tune of the Union band with their own band. In war, music was part of everyday life just as much as blood was. An unfortunate, odd pairing it may be.  Often the band of one side would play patriotic or martial tunes to anger the other side, with the North playing songs like "The Star Spangled Banner" and the South playing songs like "Dixie." However, on occasion, the two sides would exchange their favorite songs, with the Union soldiers playing a tune, then the Confederates picking it up. “Home Sweet Home” is a song that both sides can stand behind during the Civil War. They’re all just aching to be at home with their families!Something everyone could unite behind.

Representations of the war in art were a rarity by April 1863. At twenty-eight, the largely self-taught Homer made his professional debut as a painter by going on assignment for Harper’s Weekly to illustrate the civil war. Homer travelled all the way to Virginia to sketch out what he witnessed. As a Realist painter, he wasn’t aiming for anything grandiose; just the mundane day-to-day would do. While on assignment, Home witnessed the scene of two armies breaking out into song. It was a common sight, after all. How could he not paint it? 

Harper’s Weekly would go on to publish Homer’s sketches, but he would keep some to paint on large canvases, like Home, Sweet Home. Home, Sweet Home would evolve to question the war and the motives behind the fighting. Let’s be real, if men can unite behind a song, then why the need to go through a bloody battle?