In a stormy sea, under a stormy sky, a ship is depicted battling the waves, the momentum of which tilts its hull to the right. In the background on the left, a second ship is depicted, which, however, is not facing the same storm and appears to be sailing in calmer waters. All the intensity and drama is given to the foreground of the painting where the confrontation of the human element, as indicated by the ship, with the elements of nature takes place. With unique skill, the painter depicts the foaming waves that furiously hit the hull of the ship. The rendering of the sky, which tends to become one with the sea, is also exceptional, a trick that intensifies the viewer's anxiety.

Depictions of ships in a storm were a favorite subject for romantic painters, including Ivan Aivazovsky (1817 – 1900). The unequal confrontation between man and nature found its ideal depiction in seascapes. For Aivazovsky, the painter who was the pride of Russia and one of the most popular and commercial artists of his time, the depiction of waves was his ultimate artistic achievement. There is no artist who can better depict the structure of waves, their intensity and rhythm. The repetition of the same subject, for which it was imperative to “correct the mistakes of the past” as he characteristically said, had led to the perfection of his technique and the creation of true masterpieces of the genre.