Spring Morning in the Heart of the City
Artist: Childe Hassam (American, 1859β1935)
Date: 1890, reworked 1895β1899
Medium: Oil on canvas
Collection: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY, United States
Description
Hassamβs city scenes often focused on Manhattanβs spine, Fifth Avenue, and the then-fashionable parks that adjoined it. Here, he recorded the busy area west of Madison Square Park, which was established before 1850 between Fifth and Madison Avenues just north of Twenty-Third Street. The entrance to the Fifth Avenue Hotel, denoted by a classical portico, a large circular clock, and two curbside gaslights, appears at the lower left. This elegant hotel and others, along with theaters, concert halls, and restaurants, made Madison Square one of the cityβs most vibrant centers for entertainment and tourism during the 1890s.
