Like Claude Monet, Horton preferred to paint in nature and painted a landscape repeatedly over time to capture a scene’s essence in every light. A critic for the Westminster Gazette wrote of Horton in 1925: "He is a colorist, enamoured of the beauty of life, is seen in his scenes; classic in their arrangement and vibrating with color as moderns comprehend it.”

William Samuel Horton was a skilled and confident American Impressionist painter who counted among his friends the most influential artists of his day. Horton studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and the National Academy of Design in New York. Horton made his exhibition debut in 1888 at the National Academy, and within two years was also exhibiting in Boston and Philadelphia. 

Horton moved to Paris in 1895 and immersed himself in the Impressionist movement. At the Academie Julien and Ecole des Beaux-Arts Horton studied alongside Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro and Claude Monet. He devoted himself completely to mastering Impressionist techniques and developed his characteristic style: bold, confident brushstrokes of vibrant color. 

Horton was active in the Paris art community and moved in both traditional and avant-garde circles, exhibiting at the Paris Salon at the Champ du Mars, as well as the more Modernist-oriented Salon d'Automne.  He met dealer Georges Petit, and subsequently mounted numerous solo exhibitions at Galerie Georges Petit, one of the leading Impressionist galleries in Paris at the time.

Horton’s work is represented at the Musee Carnavalet, Paris; The National Museum of Stockholm; the Brooklyn Museum, NY; Terra Foundation, IL; Colby College, ME; Bradford Museum, England; Luxembourg Museum; Musee du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France; among others. Furthermore in 1939, the Galerie Charpentier of Paris mounted a posthumous retrospective of Horton’s work.