Rabbit Warren at Pontoise, Snow

The winter of 1879 was a hard one in northern France, and Pissarro spent it working outdoors, the way he spent most winters. He was living at Pontoise on the river Oise, about 30 kilometres northwest of Paris, selling almost nothing and borrowing from friends to keep the household going. La Garenne, the rabbit warren of the title, was a patch of rough ground on the slope above the town. The snow lies over the ground, the houses and the hedges in a kind of froth, put down with quick heavy strokes. He came back to snow nearly 100 times across his career. This canvas stayed in the family, and when Durand-Ruel gave him a large show in January 1892, the first one that really sold, it hung there on loan from his wife Julie.