Charles Edwin Lewis Green prided himself most on being an American artist. In the early part of his career, he and his compatriot Charles Herbert Woodbury had adjoining studios in Boston, where they sought to paint in a distinctly American style; that is, without European influence. This goal became more and more difficult as the two artists were exposed to French Impressionism when they saw such paintings in local exhibitions. Even with this thread of influence Green's paintings reveal his singular ability to capture the look of the American landscape.

Green painted en plein air and most often took the New England landscape and seascape as his subject. The subtlety of the line and soft color in Sailboats Beached on the Shore is typical of Green's mature artistic style. The sense of quiet solitude evokes an almost elegiac mood. Green must have come upon this view while he was out painting and immediately saw how poetic it appeared.