An Isles of Shoals Day 1901

Childe Hassam brushed this seascape, presumably en plein air, using short, rhythmic strokes of blues, whites, and browns. You can almost feel the salty air and hear the waves crashing against the rocks, right? I imagine Hassam, squinting in the bright sunlight, trying to capture the fleeting moment with his brush. Maybe he was thinking about Monet and the other Impressionists, how they managed to make light itself the subject of their paintings. See the white crests of the waves – they look like quick, deliberate dashes. And notice how he used the same blues in the water as in the sky? It's like he's saying everything is connected, all part of the same shimmering, breathing world. You can see it in other paintings by Hassam; he kept exploring the effects of light and atmosphere, trying to pin down those elusive moments of beauty. It’s like he’s saying, hey, look at this world! It's a conversation, a back-and-forth between artists across time.