You’ve probably seen it. Maybe you didn’t know the name, but if you’ve caught a glimpse of a televised address from the White House over the last few decades, that blur of patriotic color was likely hovering in the background. Childe Hassam’s Avenue in the Rain is more than just a piece of American Impressionism. It’s a mood. It’s a specific moment in 1917 where New York City felt like it was drowning in both rainwater and high-stakes nationalism.
Honestly, it’s a bit messy.
When people think of "great American art," they often look for something stoic or realistic, like a Copley portrait or a dusty Hudson River School landscape. But Hassam wasn't interested in the fine details of a face or the literal count of bricks on a building. He wanted the vibe. In Avenue in the Rain, he captures Fifth Avenue right as the United States was pivoting toward World War I. The flags aren't just hanging there; they are bleeding into the pavement.
The Weird History of the Flag Series
Hassam didn’t just wake up one day and decide to paint a rainy street. This was part of a massive obsession. Between 1916 and 1919, he produced about thirty paintings known as the "Flag series." Most of them depict the "Preparedness Parade" or similar patriotic displays along Fifth Avenue.
Why flags?
Basically, Hassam was a massive interventionist. He was an older guy by the time the Great War rolled around—well into his fifties—so he wasn't going to the front lines. Painting was his way of cheering from the sidelines. But look closer at the brushwork. It isn't exactly "happy." There is a tension in the way the red, white, and blue streaks downward. It’s heavy.
Critics at the time weren't always sure what to make of his shift. Before this, Hassam was famous for sunlight. He loved the way light hit New England gardens or the white facades of old churches. Suddenly, he’s in the middle of Manhattan, painting gloomy weather and political fervor. It was a gamble.
How Avenue in the Rain Ended Up in the Oval Office
This painting has serious political clout. It entered the White House permanent collection in 1963, gifted by the White House Historical Association during the Kennedy administration. It’s been a staple ever since, though its prominence fluctuates depending on who is sitting at the Resolute Desk.
Bill Clinton loved it. Barack Obama kept it in the Oval Office for his entire eight-year run. Donald Trump kept it there too, usually positioned right behind his left shoulder during press events. Joe Biden maintained the tradition.
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Why do presidents love it so much?
It’s probably the dual nature of the piece. It represents American unity, sure, but it does so in a way that feels gritty and resilient. It’s not a fair-weather painting. It’s a "we are getting through this storm" painting. That’s a powerful metaphor for anyone leading a country.
The composition is actually pretty wild if you break it down. Hassam ignores the horizon line almost entirely. You’re looking down and across, feeling almost submerged in the reflection of the flags on the wet asphalt. There are figures with umbrellas, but they are ghostly, barely there. The city is the flags, and the flags are the city.
Impressionism with a New York Edge
We often associate Impressionism with Monet’s water lilies or Degas’ dancers—soft, French, and delicate. Hassam took those techniques—the broken brushstrokes, the focus on light, the lack of black paint—and applied them to the frantic energy of New York.
He used a very limited palette for this specific work.
Red. White. Blue. A lot of murky grey and green for the buildings and the street.
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By keeping the colors tight, he makes the flags feel like they are illuminating the scene from within. In 1917, New York was arguably the most modern place on earth. Hassam was trying to figure out how to make "modern" look "timeless." He wasn't painting the specific people on the street because they didn't matter as much as the collective spirit of the moment.
What People Get Wrong About Hassam’s Politics
Some art historians argue that the Flag series is pure propaganda. That’s a bit of a reach.
While Hassam was certainly patriotic, he was also deeply concerned with the aesthetic of the city. He once said that the flags were "the most beautiful colors in the world" when grouped together against the grey stone of Manhattan. For him, the political statement was inseparable from the visual one. He wasn't just saying "Go USA"; he was saying "Look at how this color transforms a boring street."
There’s also the "rain" factor.
Rain changes the physics of light. It turns a street into a mirror. For an Impressionist, a rainy day is a gift because it provides twice as much surface area to play with reflections. If you look at the bottom third of Avenue in the Rain, the flags are elongated, rippling in the puddles. It’s almost abstract. If you cropped out the top half of the painting, you might not even know what you were looking at.
Where to See It (If You’re Not the President)
Since the original is tucked away in the private quarters or the Oval Office of the White House, you can’t exactly walk in and stare at it for an hour. However, the Flag series is spread out across some of the best museums in the country.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art: They have several key pieces from the series.
- The National Gallery of Art: A great place to compare Hassam to his European counterparts.
- The New-York Historical Society: They often lean into the historical context of the 1917 parades.
Seeing these in person is a completely different experience than looking at a screen. The paint is thick. You can see where Hassam dragged the brush through wet pigment to create the illusion of wind catching the fabric.
Why the Flag Series Matters in 2026
We live in a deeply polarized time. Looking back at 1917 through Hassam’s eyes reminds us that America has always had these moments of intense, almost frantic self-definition. The painting doesn't offer a clean, perfect image of the country. It offers a blurred, wet, and complicated one.
It’s a reminder that even in the middle of a storm, there’s a certain kind of beauty in the chaos.
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Actionable Ways to Appreciate the Work
If you want to move beyond just knowing the name of the painting and actually understand the "why" behind it, start here:
Look for the "lost" edges. One of Hassam's best tricks in Avenue in the Rain is where the flag ends and the building begins. In many spots, they merge. This was a deliberate choice to show how the national identity was "bleeding" into the very architecture of the city. Try to find five spots in a high-res image where the border of an object completely disappears.
Compare it to Monet’s "Rue Montorgueil." Monet painted a similar flag-festooned street in Paris back in 1878. If you look at them side-by-side, you’ll see where Hassam got his inspiration, but you’ll also see the difference. Monet’s is celebratory and bright; Hassam’s is somber and atmospheric.
Track the Oval Office decor. Next time there’s a major presidential address, look at the art. If Avenue in the Rain is there, it’s a signal of continuity. If it’s gone, it’s a major statement about the shifting aesthetic of the American presidency.
Check out Hassam's etchings. If the chaos of the oil paintings is too much, his etchings of New York streets show his incredible draftsmanship. It proves he wasn't painting "blurry" because he couldn't draw—he was doing it because he chose to.
Hassam's work reminds us that history isn't just a list of dates. It's a feeling. It's the sound of rain on an umbrella and the sight of a flag through a fogged-up window. That's why we're still talking about it over a century later.