Nocturne, Provincetown, Massachusetts 1900

Childe Hassam painted "Nocturne, Provincetown, Massachusetts" with oil on canvas sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. The dark palette of this townscape brings to mind the nocturnes of James McNeill Whistler, who exhibited these kinds of paintings with the London Grosvenor Gallery, as well as with the Fine Art Society in the 1880s. When Hassam painted this scene, Provincetown was becoming known as a summer art colony and tourist destination, reinventing itself from its earlier role as a center for fishing and whaling. The art colony was the outcome of social and economic forces, including the expansion of railroads, the growth of a middle class with leisure time, and the development of art schools teaching en plein air painting. Art historians often study exhibition records and period publications, such as the Provincetown Advocate, to understand the artistic and social context in which paintings like this one were created. This helps us understand the role of art in shaping our understanding of the past.