THOMAS MORAN (1837-1926)

Thomas Moran and his wife first visited East Hampton in Long Island, New York, in the summer of 1878. The couple quickly fell in love with the quaint village "with its main street shaded by magnificent elms and poplar trees, and its quiet lanes where one might meet sauntering cattle or flocks of hissing, honking geese. It was so like a peaceful English village that it won Moran's heart and filled him with nostalgia. He remained loyal to it for the rest of his days. Two scenes he loved above all others, he once declared—the Grand Canyon of Arizona with its kaleidoscopic colors...and the town of East Hampton with its heartwarming, antique, rural charm." (T. Wilkins, Thomas Moran: Artist of the Mountains, Norman, Oklahoma, 1966) Numerous other artists such as William Merritt Chase and Childe Hassam traveled to East Hampton as well, seeking serene settings for their summer work, thereby forming a small but impressive art colony. In 1884 Moran built "The Studio", the first fully equipped artist's studio in East Hampton, which became the artist's home until the end of his life.

A Cloudy Day on Long Island demonstrates how East Hampton appealed to the artist's romantic sense of color and his mastery of atmospheric effects. Allowing just a hint of ocean visible in the distance, Moran idealizes the grassy countryside by piling the sky with clouds and casting an ethereal breaking light onto the rich, green foliage. The effect is dramatic yet serene, "with land and sky united harmoniously by the light reflected from the surface of the painting." (R.G. Pisano, Long Island Landscape Painting: 1820-1920, New York, 1985)