Rocky Shore, painted in 1939, showcases Milton Avery's skillful balance of abstract form and representational subject matter, a balance he sought throughout his career. The overlapping organic shapes of land, sky, and sea, composed of simplified areas of underlaid color, foreshadow Avery's later development of broad bands of color, anticipating broader shifts in 20th-century modernism toward the sweeping abstraction of Color Field painting that would emerge in the late 1950s.

For Avery, color was a means of evoking the emotional resonance of specific places. Rocky Shore features passages of blue and brown underlayers, with staccato marks delineating the textures of rocks, the fluff of clouds, and the ripples of the sea. Likely inspired by the scenic views of Gloucester, Massachusetts, where Avery often spent summers with his family, the artist's cool-toned color palette and simplified forms evoke a tranquil scene. Throughout his career, Avery focused on three major subject categories: still lifes, figure paintings, and landscapes, such as Rocky Shore. While subject matter played a role in Avery's art, these subjects primarily served as vehicles for his deep interest in color and the interplay between colors to evoke specific moods and forms.