Paris Street Scene

In painting this scene of Paris, Childe Hassam took the point of view of a flaneur, a person who makes keen observations of the urban environment. He recorded the vibrant interplay of colors, shapes, and textures on an otherwise undistinguished street corner on a rainy day. Rounding the corner, a well-dressed woman shelters herself and a child with an umbrella, while in the distance a fiacre, or horse-drawn cab, moves down the street. At the time, Paris was home to over 90,000 horses that powered machines and transported goods, information, and people, prior to the rise of the automobile and the city's metro system. Hassam was based in New York and New England, but he traveled to Europe throughout his career, including a stint in Paris from 1886 to 1889. Paris Street Scene is characteristic of Hassam's work after he arrived in France, when he concentratred on capturing fleeting moments in time and atmospheric effects.