A square-rigged sailing ship heads across a rough night sea, its sails and rigging catching a little moonlight. The full moon shows through a break in the stormy clouds, and its light picks out the white crests of the waves.

The paint is thick and rough, with sharp palette-knife marks in the clouds and swells. The palette is a limited range of ink-black, slate and silvery grey, which makes the scene tense and atmospheric.