Meditation by the Sea is an American folk art oil painting by an unknown artist from the early 1860s.

The painting is derived from a wood engraving of Gay Head, Martha's Vineyard by David H. Strother in the September 21, 1860 issue of Harper's New Monthly.

[1] The artist creates a surreal image by juxtaposing the lone, brooding foreground figure with tiny silhouettes in the distance.

[1] They create a sense of foreboding using a vast horizon and an ominous hanging branch.

[1] Based on the date of the Strother engraving, this painting was probably painted near the outbreak of the Civil War; a sense of dread is visible in the figure's "confrontation with the omnipotence of nature and God".