Sunset, Boston 1895 - 1896

Maurice Prendergast made this pastel drawing of Boston with an Impressionistic style. The sunset’s shimmering light gives the image an idyllic tone, but it also carries a hint of melancholy. Though Prendergast himself was from Boston, this image recalls the Parisian flânerie as it developed in the mid-nineteenth century. Baudelaire described the flâneur as a detached observer of city life, often melancholic, yet always alert to the changes brought on by industrial capitalism. In Prendergast’s drawing, we see a woman promenading, dressed in a way that indicates her class status. But where does she belong in this landscape? In the distance, the city is growing with new buildings and industry. And yet here, the woman is walking in what looks like a field of wildflowers. To understand Prendergast, scholars have looked to a variety of sources: visual culture such as French Impressionism, the history of Boston and its changes as a growing metropolis. These factors, together, help us understand this complex image.