Childe Hassam's The Avenue in the Rain is an iconic Impressionist work. It depicts Fifth Avenue in New York. You might recognize the painting from the White House. For many years it was hung in the Oval Office.
Date created: 1917
Dimensions: 42 x 22.25 inches
Current ownership: The White House Collection
Medium: Oil on canvas
The main features of the painting are:
Broken color: Look at the distinct strokes of reds and blues. A vibration of color.
Color contrast: Warm reds against cool blues. These are both primary colors.
Painterly brushwork: It looks like a painting.
Simplification: Hassam didn't paint every detail. He simplified the scene into basic shapes and colors. The rest is up to our imaginations.
Below are the main colors used in the painting. Copy the hex code for use in Photoshop or other editing software.
Here's the painting in grayscale so you can clearly see the different values (lights and shadows):
Below is the painting with a grid over the top so we can analyze it in terms of the rule of thirds. The grid lines and intersections are considered aesthetically pleasing areas.
"[It] is one of some 30 related paintings of flag-decorated streets that the artist produced between 1916 and 1919, during and immediately after the First World War... [T]hey are intensely patriotic works...
Observing shadows to be bluish rather than black, the Impressionists often became mannered in their use of blue, making it a dominant hue in many of their paintings. . . .
[H]ere the rain and the rain-slicked streets give [Hassam] an excuse for a literal wash of blue and blue-gray, enhanced by a profusion of reflections." Art in the White House: A Nation's Pride via Wikipedia
Here are some similar paintings by Hassam: