The Old Road to the Sea
William Merritt Chase (American, 1849–1916)
c. 1893
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Framed: 134.3 x 159.7 x 10.8 cm (52 7/8 x 62 7/8 x 4 1/4 in.); Unframed: 101.5 x 127 cm (39 15/16 x 50 in.); Former: 118.5 x 144 x 5.5 cm (46 5/8 x 56 11/16 x 2 3/16 in.)
- Culture
- United States
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, American Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
One of the most influential of the American Impressionists, William Merritt Chase established his own summer school at Shinnecock, on the eastern tip of Long Island, New York. Attracted to the low-lying dunes and beaches, Chase and his students were among the first American artists to pursue open-air painting. With its varied brushwork and warm colors, this painting is among the finest works Chase produced at Shinnecock. The panoramic scene glows with the light of a summer day. The Chase school at Shinnecock, active from 1891-1902, was instrumental in expanding the influence of Impressionism in the United States.
