Ruisdael introduces into landscape painting portrayal of the violent side of nature, in contrast to the calm which dominated the work of the previous generation. In a composition which is typical in its use of a low horizon, a boat among the shadows in the foreground heels over in the strong wind. In the background other similarly wind-tossed boats are barely sketched in. The real protagonist of the painting are not the sailing boats but the grandeur and force of nature: the wind and the stormy sea.