Snow at Argenteuil (Neige à Argenteuil)

Monet is perhaps the greatest Impressionist landscape painter and was particularly attracted to the unique qualities of light and color in snowscapes. During the winter of 1874-1875, he produced 16 paintings of snow effects in his home town of Argenteuil, a suburb to the northwest of Paris. In this example, a snow-covered path runs towards a distant cluster of houses and church steeple, providing the composition with a sense of depth. To the right, sunlight begins to melt the snow, while a crimson bush provides a color accent. Monet applied paint very rapidly, particularly when painting trees.