“A Rainy Day in Boston” is an oil on canvas painting by the renowned impressionist artist Childe Hassam, completed in 1885. The artwork falls within the Impressionism movement and is classified as a genre painting, capturing a moment of everyday life. It measures 121.9 by 66.4 cm and is part of the collection at the Toledo Museum of Art in Toledo, Ohio, United States.
The painting depicts a rainy, overcast day on the streets of Boston, where wet surfaces reflect the city’s muted, gloomy light. In the foreground, we can see a woman and a child, possibly a mother and daughter, walking closely together under a large umbrella. To their left, a horse-drawn carriage transports passengers, while another carriage approaches in the opposite direction. The figures and carriages on the sidewalk give a sense of depth and movement to the scene. Street reflections and the glossy wet pavement capture the effect of light during rainfall, a characteristic element of Hassam’s work that conveys the transient atmospheric conditions of the moment. The city architecture, with its rows of red brick buildings, provides a structured backdrop to the organic, fluid elements of the weather, juxtaposing man-made order against nature’s caprice.