Childe Hassam returned home after years of study in Paris and embraced American subjects, often painting scenes of New York City or the New England countryside. He painted this seascape outdoors on Maine’s Appledore Island (the Isle of Shoals), a favorite summer resort for the artistic and literary elite. Diffuse morning light shining through fog presented a challenging visual problem. Hassam varied the size and direction of his brushstrokes to convey perspective as well as a sense of motion in both water and sky.