Marine and landscape painter Thomas Alexander Harrison was born in Philadelphia, and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1880 to 1881.  Following the Academy he traveled to France, where he continued his training at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and the Académie Julian.

Considered an expatriate painter, Harrison divided his time between Paris and New York City.  His paintings of the Brittany coast, in Concarneau and Beg- Meil, made him widely admired by connoisseurs and critics all over the world.  In 1901, he was made a member of the National Academy of Design, and also belonged to the Society of American Artists, the Century Association and the Paris Society of Artists Club.  His work was exhibited throughout Europe: at the Paris Salons from 1880 until 1889, Berlin, Brussels and the Munich Salon.  In the United States, his work was featured at the National Academy of Design, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Boston Art Club.
 
Les Vagues is a study for an award winning work of the same name, which received a place of honor at the 1885 Paris Salon.  In 1891, it was purchased by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts for $5,400, the largest amount of money that had been paid by the Academy for a single piece of artwork.