Dennis Sheehan is an American tonalist painter whose work is often described as reminiscent of the great masters of the Barbizon school. Born in Boston in 1950, Dennis Sheehan received his training studying at the Vesper George School of Art and the Montserrat School of Visual Art. He also studied with two of R.H. Gammell’s former students, Robert Cormier and Richard Whitney. Like his great nineteenth century predecessor George Inness, whose influence is consciously acknowledged, Sheehan employs the dark palette and thickly pigmented surfaces of the French Barbizon School. Sheehan, like Inness before him, eschews picturesque scenery in the interest of evoking atmospherics. Also like Inness, Sheehan’s paintings are produced in the studio from his imagination. In the tradition of the Tonalist painters, Sheehan creates landscapes of mood, affected by nature's changing seasons. "My goal is to have the painting emanate light, rather than be just a surface that records the reflections of light. This is why the shadow areas are important; for it is from them that this emanation proceeds. The light areas are focal points of this effort, but the power comes from the shadows.” Sheehan has works in major public and private collections, including the White House.