Sunset at Sea

Hassam also painted landscapes. He probably first summered on Appledore, an island off the coast of New Hampshire and Maine, in 1884. For many years until 1894, the Appledore landscape provided Hassam with inspiration. Later he continued to visit both Appledore and New England coastal towns in the summers. The seascapes he painted on those visits in the early years of the twentieth century introduced a new component into his work. In Sunset at Sea, for instance, the almost monochrome bands of colour record a vision of the vastness of the ocean, in a style that has Symbolist undertones and looks forward to American abstract art.