Rooted in her enduring connection to rivers and oceans, the five paintings and eleven works on paper in When the Waters Break depict bodies of water — both real and imagined — that were important to May Stevens throughout her life. Stevens used a wide array of colors, depicting the swirling and rippling movement of water in blues, greens, grays, and purples and adding text in eye-catching gold and silver to approximate the reflection of light on water.