Lowry would often visit the coast, usually the north east, from Sunderland all the way up to Berwick-on-Tweed.
He very much enjoyed stying at the Seaburn Hotel.
He painted and sketched the North Sea in many forms, with and without boats, as backdrops to portraits - even in self-portraits.
And the Seaburn Hotel (now the Marriott), on Sunderland's seafront, made the perfect base.
From 1960, Room 104 became a home-from-home for the observer in the trilby and the three-piece suit.