# Wind-Swept Sands

- By: William Merritt Chase (American, 1849–1916)
- Date: 1894
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: 87 × 101.5 cm (34 1/4 × 39 3/4 in.)
- Culture: Long Island
- Credit line: Purchased with funds provided by Mrs. Eric Oldberg in honor of Milo M. Naeve; Friends of American Art and R. H. Love Galleries funds; Walter Aitken Endowment; through prior acquisitions of the Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/120296)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/ff5e49d3-448f-2aba-4461-6e36c1dc7dfa/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Little Ones profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Between 1891 and 1902, William Merritt Chase painted numerous landscapes of the area surrounding the Shinnecock Summer Art School in Long Island, New York, where he was an influential teacher. In Wind-Swept Sands, Chase used rapid brushstrokes to depict the dunes and vegetation, thin washes for the sky, and an overall gray tone to indicate an overcast day. Chase’s teaching method was rooted in the French Impressionist practice of painting outdoors in order to take advantage of natural light and changing weather conditions.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0