Long Island Landscape after a Shower of Rain (After the Shower)

William Merritt Chase was the most important American Impressionist of the 1880s, and this 1889 landscape of Long Island after rain — painted in his beloved Shinnecock Hills — captures the luminous, freshly washed atmosphere that became his outdoor specialty. Chase pioneered plein-air painting in America with evangelical enthusiasm, founding the Shinnecock Hills Summer School of Art that same year and training a generation of American artists in direct observation of nature. This work typifies his ability to capture the specific quality of light in the American northeast — soft, post-storm radiance — with Impressionist freedom and technical confidence.

Chase renders the wet landscape with loose, flickering strokes that capture reflected light on the damp earth and the luminous, clearing sky. His palette is cool and silvery — grays, soft greens, and pale yellows — suggesting the particular quality of light after rainfall. The composition is broad and horizontal, emphasizing the spaciousness of the landscape.