A Dark Day 1913

Maurice Prendergast painted "A Dark Day" using oil on canvas in the style of American Impressionism. This piece is a window into the leisure activities of the upper classes, around the turn of the century, perhaps in New England. We see the fashionable society gathering at the shore. The Impressionists were self-consciously modern. They turned away from academic conventions of history painting, with its emphasis on grand narratives, and looked instead to everyday life. Note how Prendergast renders the scene in dabs of loosely applied paint. He captures the play of light and the transience of the moment. Art historians consult a variety of sources to more fully understand artworks like this. Museum archives, period publications, and exhibition reviews can all shed light on the artist's intentions and the cultural context in which the work was produced and consumed.